A Call From Pence Helped Set an Uncertain New Course in Venezuela

The night before Juan Guaidó declared himself interim president of Venezuela, the opposition leader received a phone call from Vice President Mike Pence.
Mr. Pence pledged that the U.S. would back Mr. Guaidó if he seized the reins of government from Nicolás Maduro by invoking a clause in the South American country’s constitution, a senior administration official said.

That late-night call set in motion a plan that had been developed in secret over the preceding several weeks, accompanied by talks between U.S. officials, allies, lawmakers and key Venezuelan opposition figures, including Mr. Guaidó himself.

It culminated in the 35-year-old Mr. Guaidó’s declaration Wednesday that Mr. Maduro’s government was illegitimate and that Mr. Guaidó, president of the country’s National Assembly, was assuming power in accordance with the country’s constitution.

Almost instantly, just as Mr. Pence had promised, President Trump issued a statement recognizing Mr. Guaidó as the country’s rightful leader. Soon after came similar pronouncements from Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Peru and others.

But Mr. Maduro, who refused to step aside, nearly as quickly drew statements of support from Turkey, Russia, Mexico and Bolivia, setting into motion a tense international faceoff over the future of Venezuela.

The gripping sequence of events presented a rarely seen side of Mr. Trump’s foreign policy, one that was preconceived, tightly coordinated and carried out swiftly and efficiently.

But the White House and other branches of the government struggled to see eye-to-eye. The plan stirred concern among some officials who feared it could stoke instability and endanger U.S. diplomats in Caracas. On Thursday, the State Department ordered the removal of nonessential personnel from the U.S. embassy in Caracas.

While the developments this week surprised many onlookers, Mr. Trump had long viewed Venezuela as one of his top-three foreign policy priorities, including Iran and North Korea.

“He cared about it tremendously,” said Fernando Cutz, who had served as senior director for Western Hemisphere affairs on Mr. Trump’s National Security Council and handled Venezuela matters.

Mr. Trump requested a briefing on Venezuela in his second day in office, often speaking to his team about the suffering of Venezuelan people and the country’s immense potential to become a rich nation through its oil reserves, said Mr. Cutz, now with the Cohen Group, a Washington consulting firm.

Following Mr. Maduro’s disputed claim last year to have been re-elected, administration plans began taking shape, top officials and aides said, driven in part by key members of his administration in the National Security Council and anti-Maduro advocates in Congress.

“In late December/early January, they [administration officials] started talking to the opposition,” said the senior administration official. “The opposition at this point believed, and told U.S. officials, that they needed the international community’s backing to affect the political dynamic inside Venezuela.”

Inside Mr. Trump’s administration, key figures who shaped the strategy were longtime proponents of a tough approach and worked to coordinate with U.S. allies, as well as gain bipartisan support at home.

One was Mauricio Claver-Carone, a lawyer and son of a Cuban exile who had been a vocal critic of the Obama administration’s policies in Latin America and took on the job as key coordinator for Latin American policies in August last year. Mr. Claver-Carone joined a team of hard-liners working with close support from U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R., Fla.).

Others included White House national security adviser John Bolton and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who favored recognizing Mr. Guaidó. In November, Mr. Bolton signaled the U.S. was zeroing in on its focus in Latin America, calling Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela a “troika of tyranny.” Mr. Bolton delivered a speech saying so as the administration unveiled new sanctions targeting Venezuela’s gold sector and entities owned or controlled by the Cuban military and intelligence services.

The issue took on a bipartisan appeal. On Dec. 12, Mr. Rubio and Sen. Bob Menendez (D., N.J.) urged Mr. Trump to denounce Mr. Maduro as illegitimate and to recognize the National Assembly as the country’s only remaining democratic institution.

Over the New Year, Mr. Pompeo met with key U.S. allies and discussed Venezuela. He met Jan. 2 with his Brazilian and Colombian counterparts, and he hinted at a plan of action when he met with Colombian President Iván Duque. The two spoke about “how we may collaborate with regional and international partners to help those who are fleeing Venezuela and return Venezuela to its democratic heritage,” Mr. Pompeo said at the time.

The next week, on Jan. 10, Mr. Maduro was sworn in for his second term. That day, Mr. Pompeo spoke with opposition leader Mr. Guaidó, pledging to work closely on a path to a democratic future for Venezuela. A State Department statement called Mr. Guaidó’s National Assembly “the only legitimate and last democratically elected institution in Venezuela.”

Two days later, on Jan. 12, the State Department backed Mr. Guaidó’s move to invoke the authorities of the assembly. “It is time to begin the orderly transition to a new government,” a statement said.

The National Assembly publicly laid out a path Jan. 15 to oust Mr. Maduro by declaring him illegitimate, a step that could trigger a constitutional mechanism that would allow Mr. Guaidó to lead an interim government.

On that day, administration officials worked to coordinate a plan with allies and with Mr. Guaidó.

Mr. Pompeo discussed the developments in Venezuela in a call with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland. On the Senate floor, Mr. Rubio again urged the administration to recognize Mr. Guaidó.

That day, Mr. Pence also called Mr. Guaidó to express the U.S.’s resolute support for the National Assembly of Venezuela as the only legitimate democratic body in the country.

A decisive moment came a week later in a White House meeting Jan. 22, the eve of protests in Venezuela, when Mr. Rubio along with Sen. Rick Scott and Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart, both Republicans from Florida, were called to a White House meeting with Mr. Trump, Vice President Pence and others.

“Tonight please pray for @jguaido & the thousands of Venezuelans who will face danger & difficulty in the hours ahead. May God give them strength. And may he change the hearts of military leaders so that they protect not repress their fellow countrymen,” Mr. Rubio tweeted afterward.

Other officials who met that day at the White House included Messrs. Pompeo and Bolton, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who presented Mr. Trump with options for recognizing Mr. Guaidó.

Mr. Trump decided to do it. Mr. Pence, who wasn’t at that meeting, placed his phone call to Mr. Guaidó to tell him, “If the National Assembly invoked Article 233 the following day, the president would back him,” the senior administration official said.

U.S. and international officials now are monitoring the effects of the crisis. While Venezuela’s military leaders have declared their support for Mr. Maduro, U.S. officials question how much loyalty the embattled president holds down through the ranks.

“The U.S. believes the rank-and-file military are most likely with the opposition,” the senior administration official said. “The most significant development in the last 24 hours has been that the [Venezuelan] military has stayed in its barracks. And Maduro hasn’t ordered them to squash the protests possibly because he’s unsure they would follow his orders and doesn’t want to test that.”

Much remains to be sorted out, including the U.S. determination that Mr. Guaidó represents the lawful government and is entitled to all revenues.
Administration officials are talking to businesses in Venezuela and top administration officials have been calling financial institutions. The State Department served notice to the Federal Reserve Thursday that Mr. Guaidó is the agent for access to Venezuelan assets in U.S. banks, the senior administration official said.

“We’re focused on making sure that having supported the constitutional effort of the National Assembly that now we’ll provide the backup for them to succeed,” the official said.

By Jessica Donati and Vivian Salama