Governor Ron DeSantis says he backs Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaido as President. This follows multiple conversations between DeSantis and National Security Director John Bolton.
While sitting in the capitol courtyard Wednesday Governor Ron DeSantis was asked by reporters about his conversation with National Security Advisor John Bolton. He and DeSantis have had several discussions about Venezuela lately. Florida is home to nearly 200,000 Venezuelans, many who left the country in recent years amid political, social and economic turmoil. DeSantis says National Security Advisor John Bolton told him the crisis may be coming to a head.
“So John called me pretty early in the morning [yesterday] to say 'you know, look, things are moving in Venezuela, the day may end with either Guido in jail or Maduro in jail, we don’t know which one. We’re hoping that it goes in the right direction,' and so, yesterday was important. I think today will be important. Obviously we haven’t seen the final outcome like we would like to see,” said DeSantis.
Protests surged yesterday in the South American country. DeSantis says the situation will get trickier if the United States decides to pursue military action.
“We’ll stand with the people of Venezuela here in Florida a 100%, we stand with the Venezuelan exile community, Venezuelan Americans, and if we win here, freedom wins here," DeSantis said. "I think that’s not only great for Venezuela, I think that’s great for the hemisphere, and I think that’s very bad for the Castro regime in Cube which is a good thing.”
The U.S has called on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to resign. Protests in the South American country continue. It is an ally of Cuba and Nicaragua and Bolton has described three countries as a “Troika of Tyranny,” in the L.A. Times.