The real reason Nicolas Maduro won’t flee Venezuela despite Trump’s warning: A deadly fear of Cuba

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro rubbished speculations that he fled the country on  Sunday with a public appearance amid escalating tensions with the US. Maduro, a frequent fixture on Venezuelan television, was missing for a few days, triggering rumours that he had vanished.

But, despite reports that US President Donald Trump threatened Maduro to quit, offering him a safe passage away from the country for him and his wife, many believe it is unlikely that Maduro will quit. Reason: Cuba.

According to Republican Congresswoman María Elvira Salazar, Maduro refuses a negotiated exit from power for fear of being assassinated by the Cuban regime. Salazar claimed that the Venezuelan President receives direct orders from Havana and that Cuban intelligence services are the ones who truly control the Venezuelan repressive apparatus. This fear, she said, is the main reason why Maduro does not dare to leave Miraflores Palace.

“President Trump was kind (in the conversation with Maduro) and offered him a way out. And Maduro is being instructed by the Cubans not to relinquish power because that is Maduro’s greatest fear: that the Cubans, who are really the ones making the decisions, will kill him before he leaves,” Salazar told Fox News.

That said, Cuba or Russia remains the only country where Maduro can seek asylum. “ If he leaves of his own accord, the logical thing would be for him to seek asylum in Cuba, but the situation in Cuba is completely disastrous. Therefore, we would have to look at Russia,” Pedro Rodríguez, professor of International Relations, told Spanish TV channel La Sexta.

“This is the most plausible scenario because, if Trump does attack, Maduro will not be so lucky: ‘If he resists and is captured by US forces, he is subject to a grand jury that has declared him responsible for a narco-terrorist organisation,” he added.

As per reports, Venezuela’s top brass are preparing for any scenario as Trump wants him out of power as soon as possible. Caracas reportedly demanded a general amnesty for Maduro, his advisors, and their families.

Many like foreign minister of Colombia, Rosa Yolanda Villavicencio Mapy, believe the healthiest option for Maduro would be leave of his own volition. “I believe he has indeed considered it, that there could be a way out, a transition, where he can leave without having to go to jail, and where someone can come in who can make that transition, and where there can be legitimate elections,” Villavicencio Mapy told Bloomberg News. “It would be the healthiest thing to do.”