"Yet that is precisely what this administration intends to do. The plan presented by the White House is to simply force the remnants of the Maduro regime to grant the United States exclusive access to Venezuelan oil, or face the consequences of a blockade. That’s it; that’s the plan. Not in the plan? Positive change for the people of Venezuela. There is no framework for elections or democratic transition. No serious assessment of the rival political factions inside Venezuela – factions that have been waiting for precisely this moment to seize power. I have seen no contingency plan for what happens when China, Russia, Iran, or Cuba – nations with deep economic interests in Venezuela – decide to back proxy groups in a country we have just destabilized. Nor have I heard any proposal for the next steps for countering narcotrafficking."