By Moncho Torres
Panama City, Aug 8 (EFE).- The head of the US Southern Command, General Laura Richardson, said in an interview with EFE that the solution to the crisis in Venezuela after the elections must be a democratic and not military one, and that could only be resolved transparently by publishing the results of the elections.
“I would go back to what others have said, some of our Congressional leaders have said we don’t need to be going to a military solution for any of this. This is very simple: democratically, release the results of the vote and show the will of the people,” Richardson told EFE in Panama, where she held meetings this week with several senior officials including President Jose Raul Mulino.
As head of the Southern Command since 2021, General Richardson, leading a command of more than 1,200 military personnel and civilians, provides contingency plans, operations and security cooperation in an area covering 31 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, including Venezuela.
The recent presidential elections in Venezuela on July 28, resulted in the election commission, CNE, declaring Nicolas Maduro the winner without credible evidence, while the opposition released copies of official tally sheets collected by poll watchers from a majority of polling centers showing a landslide victory for their candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia.
This has prompted speculation on social media sites about a possible military intervention.
Against this situation, the position of the United States has been clear: on Aug. 1, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken recognized the opposition candidate as the winner.
“With those votes that were achieved, I hope that there’s a democratic end to this and democratically it’s able to be resolved. I think the transparency on the votes just like our secretary Blinken has talked about the importance of that, (as well as) many other presidents in the region,” said Richardson.
“We gotta stick together and we have to continue to demand that transparency and the tallies and the results of the votes are released,” she said, recalling that more than 12 million Venezuelans turned out to vote and called for transparency in this regard.
Since the announcement of the results, protests have taken place in Venezuela, with an increase in violence and instability.
This could lead to a further increase in the number of Venezuelans forced to leave the country, which currently number “almost 8 million people,” underlined Ricardson, calling it “a bad humanitarian crisis.”
The first woman to head the US Southern Command remarked that the migrants, in general, would prefer to stay in their country if suitable conditions existed. Hence, the strategy to reduce irregular migration should focus on creating conditions “where people feel safe and they don’t want to move.”
The general also underlined the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on increasing poverty in the Latin American countries that “are still trying to climb out of the hole.” Moreover, this situation has been exacerbated by criminal organizations exploiting the situation.
“They’ve diversified their portfolio, so it’s not just drug trafficking, it’s human trafficking, it’s illegal mining, illegal logging, illegal fishing, counterfeit goods. So we have to work harder to follow the money. And how is that money being laundered,” said Richardson.
And in this part about following the money trail, the US general said it had the collaboration of its regional partners, such as Panama, whom Washington ed by strengthening their capacities, with the training of their security forces, in addition to the provision of equipment and helping with their maintenance.
In Panama, this for forces such as the National Border Service (SENAFRONT) serves to improve control of the dangerous Darien Gap – a roadless, 60-mile stretch of rainforest straddling the Colombia-Panama border – through which hundreds of migrants daily on their way to the United States.
More than 520,000 people, mostly Venezuelans, ed through the swampy lawless region in 2023 alone, representing an unprecedented figure, according to official data from the Panamanian authorities.
Moreover, under the new istration of President Mulino starting July 1, several measures have been taken to try to reduce the traffic through the Darien Gap – crossed by more than 216,000 migrants so far this year – by measures such as progressively fencing about 4.7 kilometers of the jungle, which is 266 kilometers long, to create a “humanitarian corridor.”
On the day of the inauguration, Panama also signed an agreement with the US to return through flights some of the migrants who cross the Darien Gap.
While General Richardson explained that they were still working on different aspects for the start of these flights, she wanted to highlight Mulino’s firm stance on the issue.
“I think it was the leadership that the new president and his istration showed the day of the inauguration, g that memorandum, huge, that sends a very clear message that he’s going to help with this problem. And so I’m really excited about that,” she said.
Another large group among the undocumented migrants trying to enter the US is made up of people from Haiti, where in the first half of the year alone almost 3,900 people were killed or wounded by armed gang violence, according to UN data.
To try to reduce this violence, on June 25, the first contingent of Kenyan police officers to Port-au-Prince was deployed as a part of an international mission to the Haitian National Police in fighting armed gangs, responsible for thousands of displaced persons.
“Haiti has another chance. I’m excited for the Kenyans to be there. I’m excited for them to help the Haitian National Police who have hung tough (…) they have been tough in this whole thing. And they hung on and now the Kenyans are there and now other countries are ing,” said Richardson, but ruled out the possibility of US troops being deployed in this mission.
“I’m ing (them) from the US Southcom with logistics and sustainment (…) It’s a police Mission, it’s not a military mission (…) you won’t see uniforms, you know US military uniforms on the ground there in Haiti,” she added.
“Now what comes along with all of this is development. After they gain control back from the gangs, (comes) the development to help the people,” Richardson said.
However, Richardson is unlikely to see the resolution of the Haitian crisis as the head of the Southern Command as she is due to retire in October, if a replacement is confirmed. EFE
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