The US Senate approved this Thursday a joint resolution that seeks to block new and hypothetical military incursions by the Donald Trump Government in Venezuela and that had the support of five Republicans.
The measure, eminently symbolic, was approved with 52 votes in favor and 47 against, since five senators from Trump’s party, which has a slim majority in the chamber, joined the Democratic caucus.
The resolution, presented by Democrats and co-sponsored by Republican Rand Paul, represents in any case a rebuke to Trump after the recent operation to capture President Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela of which Congress was not previously informed.
Although approval in the Senate represents a significant first step, to be binding it would also have to be approved by the Lower House, where the Republicans also have a small majority, and then be signed by Trump himself, who would surely veto it.
To override the veto, both chambers would have to approve the resolution again, but by a two-thirds majority.
The House of Representatives already rejected similar resolutions in December to withdraw US troops in the event of a conflict with Venezuela.
For his part, Massachusetts Congressman Jim McGovern welcomed the Senate’s decision, but urged the leader of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, to also put the resolution to a vote in this House.
Given the skepticism that this will happen, Democratic congressmen, led by McGovern, today presented a new joint resolution similar to the one recently approved by the Senate that they plan to vote on in the Lower House on January 22, as reported this Thursday in a press conference.
The Democrat considered that the operation in Venezuela is not about democracy or human rights, but simply about Trump’s interests in the South American country’s oil. “One thing I have come to understand is that it is easy to get into wars, but it is incredibly difficult to get out of them,” he said.
“This is about oil. It is about enriching the directors of the big oil companies at the expense of the people of Venezuela,” he asserted.
For his part, the member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Joaquín Castro, emphasized the importance of approving this type of resolution in relation to Trump’s interest in taking control of Greenland, Cuba and other regions: “The decisions that a country can make about going to war will not be made without the voice and authority of Congress,” he added.
Castro also criticized the use of funds for the military operation in Venezuela when, he considered, many Americans suffer from the lack of federal funds to subsidize health insurance.
“This is a war that the American people did not ask for and cannot afford,” the Democrat said.
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