Spanish
Washington.- The United States House of Representatives today rejected two resolutions to withdraw US troops in the event of a conflict with Venezuela or "terrorist organizations designated by the president" Donald Trump in Latin America, a challenge that comes amid the escalation of Washington's pressure campaign on Caracas.
The House first rejected, by 216 votes in favor and 210 against, Concurrent Resolution 61, which invoked Congress's ability to "remove United States Armed Forces from hostilities with terrorist organizations designated by the president in the Western Hemisphere."
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Following that, concurrent resolution 64, which ordered the withdrawal of troops "from hostilities within or against Venezuela that have not been authorized by Congress", was defeated in the House of Representatives, where Donald Trump's Republican Party holds a slim majority, by 213 votes in favor and 211 against.
Both resolutions, non-binding on their own, invoked section 5 of the War Powers Resolution, which allows Congress to order the president to withdraw the U.S. military from certain scenarios if supported by a joint resolution. Shortly before the vote, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer again insisted that Trump "does not have the authority" to carry out his plans "to use military force in the Caribbean without the authorization of Congress." Tension has escalated even further around Venezuela after Trump announced yesterday that the U.S. will block all sanctioned oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela. The U.S. president, who since summer has ordered a massive military deployment in the Caribbean with the aim of stopping the drug trafficking that he says finances the Nicolás Maduro government, assured yesterday that the Venezuelan Executive is making use of oil deposits and assets to extract "stolen" oil. In turn, Trump has said in recent days that the U.S. will soon begin carrying out attacks on assets of drug trafficking groups that are in Venezuelan territory.
