US Senate votes against effort to block more Trump military actions in Venezuela

With 51 votes against and 50 in favor, the US Senate blocked a resolution that sought to prevent President Donald Trump from carrying out military actions in Venezuela without Congressional authorization. The balance tilted towards the negative, after Vice President J.D. Vance appealed to his powers as leader of the upper house to cast a tie-breaking vote.

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Even though it was approved in the Senate, this resolution would not have had a chance to become law, since Trump would inevitably have had to sign it, specifies AP. Instead, they infer that it is a demonstration of loyalty from the Republican bloc towards their top figure, as well as a measure of the margin of action that they are willing to grant him so that he may eventually undertake military actions abroad.

Unlimited Power?

On January 8, 52 senators – five from the ruling Republican Party and 47 from the Democratic caucus, expressed their support for advancing with a measure that would allow the Legislature to restore the power to grant “war powers” to the occupant of the White House.

“This vote greatly hinders the self-defense and national security of the U.S. and undermines the president’s authority as commander-in-chief,” complained the president in a message published on Truth Social. The Wall Street Journal reported that after the legislative setback, he called the Republican senators who contradicted him to complain about it. AP valued that while it is true that Trump still controls the Republican caucus in the Senate, the very narrow vote recorded this day shows that among his supporters there are doubts about his aggressive approach to foreign policy.

U.S. Aggression and Kidnapping of Maduro

• Under the pretext of the fight against narcoterrorism, the U.S. launched a massive military aggression in Venezuelan territory on January 3, which affected Caracas and the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira. The operation concluded with the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores.
• Caracas described Washington’s actions as a “very serious military aggression” and warned that the objective of the attacks “is none other than to seize Venezuela’s strategic resources, in particular its oil and minerals, attempting to break the political independence of the nation by force.”
• The Venezuelan president and the first lady were transferred to the North American country and are currently held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.
• Maduro pleaded innocent in his first hearing before the U.S. Justice, in the Southern District Court of New York, where he was accused of narcoterrorism.
• The Vice President of Venezuela, Delcy Rodríguez, swore as acting president of the South American country.
• Many countries in the world, including Russia, urged the release of Maduro and his wife. Moscow repudiated the attack and noted that Venezuela must have the right to decide its destiny without any type of intervention from abroad.