Maduro hoped to “conditionally surrender” and end his career in a more decent way, but was still ruthlessly rejected by Trump.
Recently, Trump's administration has been acting in the Caribbean Sea, assuming a posture of vowing to overthrow Maduro's regime.
At this time, some sources from Qatar and other parties broke the news to the US media that under the pressure of the United States, Venezuelan top officials had privately handed over two formal settlement plans to Washington through Qatari intermediaries.
In the first plan handed over in April, Venezuela bluntly stated that current President Maduro could resign and step down, but the United States wanted to ensure that Maduro could safely stay in Venezuela after that. The United States wanted to withdraw criminal charges against Maduro. Current Vice President Delci Rodriguez would succeed Maduro as president.
In exchange, the Rodriguez administration will allow U.S. companies to enter Venezuela’s oil and mining industries, with specific arrangements to be negotiated.
It is that after receiving the plan, Trump eventually chose to refuse.
The Venezuelan government made more concessions in September.
According to the second set of plans, Maduro will leave Venezuela after his resignation, exile to Turkey or Qatar, and Rodriguez will not succeed in taking office, but will ask now exiled Spanish retired general Torres to return to the country as president, joining with Rodriguez and others to hold the power of Venezuela.
Other opposition figures will also be invited into the government, and the Venezuelan government’s governing mindset will shift from “chávezism” to the middle road.
According to the middleman in Qatar, both plans have been approved by Maduro himself. The president seems to want to end his political life in exchange for Trump's abandonment of his plan to use force against Venezuela, thus avoiding the country from falling into turmoil.
Of course, while the Maduro administration has made concessions on the matter of Maduro’s own resignation and allowing the United States to participate in domestic energy development, they still have to consider the long-term interests of “chávezist” political parties such as the ruling unified Socialist Party, as well as forces such as the military.
Therefore, most of the existing proposals that can join the new government are opposition figures who follow the middle line and may cooperate with the current government.
The new presidential candidate, who had already served in the Maduro administration, despite his later separation from Maduro, did not completely turn to the United States, but believed that Venezuela should find a middle way between absolute pro-America and “Chávezism.”
Pro-Western people such as Machado, the new Nobel Peace Prize winner and main opposition leader, were considered difficult to cooperate and were excluded from the list of new government personnel.
However, after fruitless consultations in the first half of this year, the situation within the Trump administration also changed, with hardliners represented by Secretary of State Rubio gaining the upper hand on Venezuela.
In the eyes of these hardliners, even the second plan is not enough to ensure the interests of the United States. They are more inclined to push Venezuela to completely change the weather and change a group of the most obedient pro-American factions, so that the United States can continue to grab oil and other practical interests from Venezuela.
At the same time, in the United States 'view, compared with Venezuela's limited concession plan, completely overthrowing the Maduro government and changing Venezuela, which has been a fortress for visiting the United States since the Chavez era, can further prevent the collective left turn in Latin America and safeguard the interests of the United States throughout Latin America.
After the United States rejected the second proposal, Maduro's government has no room for concessions. I'm afraid no third proposal will be handed over to Washington in the future, and Venezuela should turn to tough confrontation.
The United States has started a new round of military pressure. A few days ago, the U.S. military launched a new round of maritime strikes in the Caribbean Sea, sinking a ship operating in the coastal area of Venezuela. This is also the sixth strike carried out by the United States in the Caribbean Sea in the past two months.
Trump has already said that he will not rule out a ground strike on Venezuela, hinting that he will send US troops to launch a landing operation, and some US media have revealed that Trump has authorized the CIA to launch covert operations.
However, the geographical conditions of Venezuela have determined that if it is a massive offensive on Venezuela, the United States even if it finally overthrew the Maduro regime, there is a high probability of falling into a long-term civil security war, as long as the US troops withdraw, the picture of Vietnam and Afghanistan will be possible to repeat.
Therefore, even if military measures are really taken, the U.S. military will focus on air strikes and beheading and special forces infiltration and destruction. The core goal is to strive to promote a "color revolution" in Venezuela through continuous external pressure and infiltration.
Finally, to sum up, the Maduro government's plan of abdication for survival is essentially a carefully calculated political gamble intended to exchange personal power for the continuation of the regime and the stability of domestic fundamentals.
However, the illusion of surviving in a compromise has been crushed when the U.S. hardships dominate the U.S. Commission issue. When there is no room on the negotiating table, confrontation becomes the only way out.
The future of Venezuela is likely to face the ultimate test of external subversion attempts and internal will to survive, whose turbulence is not only about the fate of a country, but will become another cruel test ground for the game of great powers and the “regime change” strategy.