"Infamously, the former Florida senator even posted a series of photos of slain deposed leaders, including a bloodied former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, as tensions with the US and Maduro's government spiked in 2019. But it wasn't until the second administration of US President Donald Trump that Rubio's vision of a hardline approach to Latin America and his longtime pressure campaign against leftist leaders was realised culminating on Saturday with the illegal abduction of longtime Venezuelan leader Maduro."
"Those agendas included US President Donald Trump's preoccupation with opening Venezuela's nationalised oil industry, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's desire for a more pugilistic military approach abroad, and adviser Stephen Miller's fixation on migration and mass deportation. So that's the way that Rubio was able to bring into line not quite competing, but really divergent agendas, all of them to focus on Venezuela as a way to advance a particular end, Velasco said."
Marco Rubio long pushed for the toppling of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and publicly posted images of slain deposed leaders during 2019 tensions. Rubio's influence grew during the second Trump administration, where his hardline Latin America agenda contributed to actions against Maduro, culminating in the illegal abduction of the Venezuelan leader. Rubio capitalised on overlapping interests within the administration to align different agendas. Competing priorities included President Trump's focus on opening Venezuela's nationalised oil industry, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's call for a more pugilistic military approach, and adviser Stephen Miller's fixation on migration and mass deportation. Broader goals against Cuba remain constrained by those competing ambitions.
Read at www.aljazeera.com
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