US officials, diplomats, and spies in North American accents conduct planning conversations in a Caracas luxury hotel while diners eat fried eggs, black beans, and arepas. The hotel functions as a nerve centre for Washington’s efforts to steer Venezuela after Donald Trump’s military intervention on 3 January and the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro. US personnel check in for stays of about 26 to 27 days, and marines with walkie-talkies occupy nearby tables. The US embassy building has been closed for seven years since diplomatic relations collapsed in 2019, and it is described as infested and being fumigated. The overheard conversations connect election roadmaps, political fragmentation, and oil-fuelled economic growth to Venezuela’s post-Maduro transition.
"Since Trump's decision to snatch Maduro in January and reboot relations with his successors, the five-star hotel has become the nerve centre of Washington's efforts to steer a country some now call a US protectorate and which Trump has even said he hopes to turn into the 51st state. It's [effectively] the US embassy. I don't think anybody's going to work at the actual embassy, said Phil Gunson, a Caracas-based political analyst for Crisis Group. Having been closed for seven years since the collapse of diplomatic relations in 2019, the embassy building is full of rats and cockroaches, and it's being fumigated, Gunson explained."
"Over breakfast in one of the swankiest hotels in Caracas, you can hear them mulling Venezuela's past, present and future in sporadically hushed tones. As diners tuck in to plates of fried eggs, black beans and arepas, snatched fragments of conversation speak of election roadmaps, political fragmentation and oil-fuelled economic growth. But the murmured discussions are not being conducted in Caribbean Spanish by Venezuelan officials pondering their country's direction after the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro. The accents are North American and belong to the US officials, diplomats and spies now calling many of the shots here after Donald Trump's controversial military intervention on 3 January."
"Neighbouring tables are occupied by huddles of musclebound US marines, tattoos covering their bulging calves, baseball caps covering their heads, and walkie-talkies strapped to their hips. How long will you be staying, sir? a receptionist asks one of countless US government guests as they check in downstairs in the lobby. Oh, 26 or 27 days, the man replies in thickly accented Spanish. Since Trump's decision to snatch Maduro in January and reboot relations with his successors, the five-star hotel has become the nerve centre of Washington's efforts to steer a country some now call a US protectorate and which Trump has even said he hopes to turn into the 51st state."
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]