Trump gave Maduro ultimatum to flee Venezuela as land operations loom: report

President Donald Trump delivered a stern ultimatum to Nicol s Maduro to leave Venezuela at once before announcing the country's airspace should be closed according to a summary Per the Miami Herald Washington's warning was delivered in a phone call with Caracas and offered guaranteed evacuation for Maduro his wife Cilia Flores and their son but only if the dictator agreed to resign on the spot The conversation stalled U S bureaucrats explained and within hours Washington escalated dramatically The ensuing impasse a source recounted the outlet was over Maduro asking for global amnesty for any crimes he and his group had committed and that was rejected MADURO BRANDISHES SWORD AT RALLY AS HE RAILS AGAINST 'IMPERIALIST AGGRESSION' AMID RISING TENSIONS WITH US Second they required to retain control of the armed forces similar to what happened in Nicaragua in with Violeta Chamorro In return they would allow free elections The final issue was timing according to the outlet as Washington demanded that Maduro resign promptly but Caracas refused Trump went on to announce Saturday that Venezuelan airspace would be considered closed in its entirety The Herald also released that the Maduro establishment tried to schedule another call to Washington but received no response According to a defense expert familiar with the country s military and state-linked cartel ties Maduro and key players in his regime could now face their greater part serious threat yet I think the operations will start imminently former Venezuelan diplomat Vanessa Neumann communicated Fox News Digital The clearing of the airspace is an indication and a very clear constituents warning that missiles might be coming to take out command and control infrastructure or retaliatory infrastructure Neumann noted This will not be like urgent a jar into a thousand pieces this is where you can lift the concentration of power and it's easier to manage The targets have been identified through covert operations over the last several years by people on the ground she continued So they're well-mapped This is a capture-or-kill scenario but there's a limit to how various people you can remove speedily On Sunday Trump notified reporters aboard Air Force One not to read anything into his declaring Venezuela's airspace closed when requested if a strike was imminent Maduro also doesn't have that multiple options and his military is very weak she warned You can't go after people simultaneously who are spread all around but certainly high on the list would be Maduro himself TRUMP PUSHES PEACE IN EUROPE PRESSURE IN THE AMERICAS INSIDE THE TWO-FRONT GAMBLEVenezuela s armed forces once among Latin America s strongest have been weakened by years of corruption sanctions defections and lack of maintenance Much of its equipment Neumann says has never even been serviced Their material is extremely old decayed and has not been serviced Neumann explained They've got junk from the Russians The stuff they originally had from the Americans is decades old and has not been serviced So they have neither the personnel foreign help nor the material she mentioned Ahead of shuttering the airspace the U S also officially designated the cartel allegedly linked with Venezuela s governing body the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization This cartel turned Venezuela's main oil company into a narcotics trafficking money laundering operation using the company s access to international finance until it was sanctioned Neumann who has worked with governments on countering transnational organized crime linked to the group explained They were using Venezuelan military jets to bring in cocaine from Colombia process it in Venezuela and then move it into Central America and then into Europe IRAN BACKS MADURO TO KEEP LATIN AMERICA FOOTHOLD AS TRUMP INCREASES PRESSURE ON VENEZUELA Jet pilots were making a lot of money off that and they've tortured people They target people anybody who tell on them they re disappeared Neumann mentioned They re now one of the prime drug trafficking networks into the United States and Europe and use their military positions including their military-to-military relations to grow and accelerate those movements In fact in September the European Parliament also voted in favor of the EU designating Cartel de los Soles as a terrorist organization The Cartel de Los Soles is also a key collaborator and financier of Hezbollah and chosen of the drug money has been used to fund terrorist attacks that have killed American citizens even in the Middle East added Neumann CEO of Asymmetrica Group which specializes in defense cooperation The U S has also ramped up a military and intelligence campaign targeting drug-trafficking networks linked to Venezuela including strikes on suspected narcotics boats TRUMP S STRIKE ON CARTEL VESSEL OFF VENEZUELA SENDS WARNING TO MADURO NO SANCTUARY The decision is President Trump's because when he says Go we go And nobody knows when he'll say that Neumann announced He has mobilized so various assets down there now But what President Trump is doing now is long overdue The timing is right now she added Because even Maduro's biggest backers Russia and Iran are both on the back foot and China will not go that far in backing Maduro as it has bigger and broader interests throughout the region She also noted that Maduro is also weakened because his partners are weakened and have their own issues to deal with and that we also now have a concentration of power and deep repression within the country that's quite unified which means it's easy to flip WASHINGTON S SHADOW WAR HOW STRIKES ON CARTELS THREATEN TO COLLAPSE MADURO S REGIMENeumann identified others in the regime who may be targeted including Vice President Delcy Rodr guez Diosdado Cabello Minister of Interior Justice and Peace and Alexander Granko Arteaga head of Venezuela s counter-intelligence agency the DGCIM One of the reasons Granko is an major figure is that he's one of the reasons why they haven't capitulated and why there has not been a military uprising Neumann explained It's because of the brutality of the counter-intelligence that they do to their own military and hundreds of soldiers are tortured That noted the Venezuelan people have made it clear that they craved Maduro out and fought democratically but lost she added They voted in elections protested peacefully lobbied for sanctions and lobbied for international endorsement Neumann announced