Colombia diplomats talk covert operation in Venezuela

By Beyza Binnur Donmez

ANKARA (AA) - A conversation between Colombian Ambassador to the U.S. Francisco Santos and Foreign Minister Claudia Blum was leaked in which the envoy sees "covert actions" as the only way out of the crisis in neighboring Venezuela.

The recording by Publimetro was released Wednesday, created a national uproar and according to local reports, Colombia's President Ivan Duque asked the envoy to return Bogota to personally discuss the issue.

Santos can be heard criticizing the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump, former Colombian chancellor Carlos Holmes, decisions of Duque as well as strategies used against Venezuela.

Blum expressed concern that Trump is going to "get worse against drugs, migration and Venezuela" as the 2020 U.S. presidential elections approaches.

"People no longer believe, the humanitarian aid was a fiasco," she tells Santos, referring to Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido's failed attempt to allow humanitarian aid into the country from Colombia in late February.

"Trump is not going to go to Venezuela. But if this man [President Nicolas Maduro] does not leave, Colombia has no future. If this man does not leave, he will make our lives impossible," Santos confessed. "The only solution I see is covert actions there, to generate noise and support the opposition that is very lonely."

"There is no point in believing that Colombian diplomatic practice can be recomposed: conversations are leaked in which the new foreign minister is desperate because there was no coup in Venezuela, Guaido does not work, Trump does not intervene, the CIA does not act, TIAR [Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance] does not work," Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said in response.

Venezuela has been embroiled in political unrest since the beginning of the year as Maduro and Guaido engaged in a power struggle, while the country's economy has been in precipitous decline following a global downturn in the price of crude oil.