Rick Scott isn’t waiting to see if Juan Guaidó can successfully get the Venezuelan military to switch sides and oust Nicolás Maduro.
The Florida senator called for the U.S. military to be positioned on the Venezuelan border on Tuesday, hours after Guaido and Leopoldo Lopez declared a “start of the end of the usurpation” with armed soldiers by their side.
Scott’s call for the U.S. military to “deliver aid to the people and defend freedom and democracy as well as U.S. national security interests in our hemisphere” was the strongest language used by a U.S. official on Tuesday morning. Other key figures like Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Sen. Marco Rubio and Counselor to the President Kellyanne Conway urged the Venezuelan military to oust Maduro and expressed general support for Guaidó.
“I’ve already called on the Venezuelan military to stand for freedom and democracy in Venezuela and support Juan Guaidó,” Scott said. “The United States must also be ready to answer that call. Guaidó and the people of Venezuela have taken this critical step. We cannot abandon them. Inaction is not an option.”
Read more from our news partner, The Miami Herald.
