纽约时报 美政府曾和委内瑞拉叛变分子密谋推翻马杜罗(2)

Then in August of last year, President Trump¹ declared that the United States had a “military option” for Venezuela —

去年8月，特朗普总统宣布要对委内瑞拉“动武” ——

a declaration that drew condemnation² from American allies in the region,

该声明引发了委内瑞拉周边盟友的强烈谴责，

but encouraged rebellious³ Venezuelan military officers to reach out to Washington once again.

却也鼓动了委内瑞拉反叛军官再次联络华盛顿。

“It was the commander in chief saying this now,” the former Venezuelan commander on the sanctions list said in an interview,

上文提到的委内瑞拉制裁名单上的指挥官在接受采访时说，“如今连总统也这么说了，”

speaking on condition of anonymity⁴ out of fear of reprisals⁵ by the Venezuelan government.

但由于害怕委内瑞拉政府报复，该指挥官拒绝透露自己的姓名。

“I’m not going to doubt it when this was the messenger.”

“出现这个信号，我是不会怀疑的。”

In a series of covert⁶ meetings abroad, which began last fall and continued this year,

在去年秋天开始，今年仍在继续的一系列海外秘密会议中，

the military officers told the American government that they represented a few hundred members of the armed forces who had soured on Mr. Maduro’s authoritarianism⁷.

军官们告诉美国政府，他们代表的是数百名对马杜罗的独裁统治感到不满的武装部队成员。

The officers asked the United States to supply them with encrypted radios,

他们要求美国为他们提供加密无线电，

citing the need to communicate securely, as they developed a plan to install a transitional government to run the country until elections could be held.

理由是制定在选举前拥立临时政府来管理国家的计划期间，他们需要和美国进行安全的沟通。

American officials did not provide material support,

但美国官员并没有给他们提供物质帮助，

and the plans unraveled after a recent crackdown that led to the arrest of dozens of the plotters.

他们的计划最终还是暴露了，因为委政府最近发动了一次镇压活动，逮捕了数十名策划者。

Relations between the United States and Venezuela have been strained for years.

多年来，美国和委内瑞拉两国的关系一直十分紧张。

The two have not exchanged ambassadors since 2010.

自2010年以来，两国一直没有大使往来。

After Mr. Trump took office, his administration increased sanctions against top Venezuelan officials, including Mr. Maduro himself, his vice⁸ president and other top officials in the government.

特朗普上任后，美国政府加强了对马杜罗先生本人，他的副总统及其他政府高级官员在内的委内瑞拉高层的制裁。

The account of the clandestine⁹ meetings and the policy debates preceding them is drawn¹⁰ from interviews with 11 current and former American officials, as well as the former Venezuelan commander.

本文对秘密会谈及之前的政策辩论的描述均来自对11位美国现任或前任官员以及上文提到的那位委内瑞拉前指挥官的采访。

He said at least three distinct groups within the Venezuelan military had been plotting against the Maduro government.

指挥官说，至少有三个委内瑞拉军队集团密谋推翻马杜罗政府。

One established contact with the American government by approaching the United States Embassy in a European capital.

部分官员透露，其中一个集团通过和位于某欧洲国家首都的美国大使馆接洽与美国政府取得了联系。

When this was reported back to Washington, officials at the White House were intrigued¹¹ but apprehensive¹².

当消息上报给华盛顿时，白宫的官员们既好奇又担心。

They worried that the meeting request could be a ploy¹³ to surreptitiously record an American official appearing to conspire¹⁴ against the Venezuelan government, officials said.

他们担心的是这次的见面要求可能是他们的伎俩，为的是秘密录下美国官员谋反委内瑞拉政府的证据。

But as the humanitarian¹⁵ crisis in Venezuela worsened last year,

然而，去年，随着委内瑞拉的人道主义危机逐渐恶化，

American officials felt that having a clearer picture of the plans and the men who aspired¹⁶ to oust¹⁷ Mr. Maduro was worth the risk.

美国官员认识到，为了摸清委内瑞拉叛变分子的叛变计划以及具体的叛变人员，冒险也值了。

“After a lot of discussion, we agreed we should listen to what they had to say,”

“经过深思熟虑，我们一致认为，我们应该听听他们的辩解，”

said a senior administration official who was not authorized¹⁸ to speak about the secret talks.

一位无权透露秘密会谈内容的政府高级官员说到。

The administration initially¹⁹ considered dispatching Juan Cruz, a veteran Central Intelligence Agency official

政府最初打算资深的中央情报局官员派胡安·克鲁兹去参加会面，

who recently stepped down as the White House’s top Latin America policymaker.

克鲁兹最近辞去了白宫拉美事务最高长官的职务。

But White House lawyers said it would be more prudent²⁰ to send a career diplomat²¹ instead.

但白宫律师认为派遣职业外交官过去更为谨慎。

The American envoy²² was instructed to attend the meetings “purely on listening mode,”

该高级官员还透露，美国派去的特使接到的指示是“纯粹以旁听模式”参加会议，

and was not authorized to negotiate anything of substance on the spot, according to the senior administration official.

无权当场参与任何实质性的协商事务。

After the first meeting, which took place in the fall of 2017,

在2017年秋季举行的首次会议之后，

the diplomat reported that the Venezuelans didn’t appear to have a detailed²³ plan

这位外交官汇报时说，那些委内瑞拉人似乎并没有具体的计划，

and had showed up at the encounter hoping the Americans would offer guidance or ideas, officials said.

参加会面时还抱着美国人能给他们一些指导或者帮他们出主意的想法。

The former Venezuelan commander said that the rebellious officers never asked for an American military intervention²⁴.

那位前委内瑞拉指挥官说，反叛的军官从未要求美国进行军事干预。

“I never agreed, nor did they propose, to do a joint²⁵ operation,” he said.

他说：“我从未同意，军官们也没有提议与美军联合动手。”

He claimed that he and his comrades considered striking last summer,

他声称，去年夏天，他和他的同志考虑过罢工，

when the government suspended the powers of the legislature and installed a new national assembly loyal to Mr. Maduro.

因为政府临时剥夺了立法机关的权力，又设立了一个效忠马杜罗的新国民议会。

But he said they aborted²⁶ the plan, fearing it would lead to bloodshed.

但他们担心会引发流血事件就放弃了这个计划。

1 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

2 condemnation   

n.谴责; 定罪

参考例句：

• There was widespread condemnation of the invasion. 那次侵略遭到了人们普遍的谴责。
• The jury's condemnation was a shock to the suspect. 陪审团宣告有罪使嫌疑犯大为震惊。

3 rebellious   

adj.造反的，反抗的，难控制的

参考例句：

• They will be in danger if they are rebellious.如果他们造反，他们就要发生危险。
• Her reply was mild enough,but her thoughts were rebellious.她的回答虽然很温和，但她的心里十分反感。

4 anonymity   

n.the condition of being anonymous

参考例句：

• Names of people in the book were changed to preserve anonymity. 为了姓名保密，书中的人用的都是化名。
• Our company promises to preserve the anonymity of all its clients. 我们公司承诺不公开客户的姓名。

5 reprisals   

n.报复（行为）( reprisal的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• They did not want to give evidence for fear of reprisals. 他们因为害怕报复而不想作证。
• They took bloody reprisals against the leaders. 他们对领导进行了血腥的报复。 来自《简明英汉词典》

6 covert   

adj.隐藏的；暗地里的

参考例句：

• We should learn to fight with enemy in an overt and covert way.我们应学会同敌人做公开和隐蔽的斗争。
• The army carried out covert surveillance of the building for several months.军队对这座建筑物进行了数月的秘密监视。

7 authoritarianism   

权力主义，独裁主义

参考例句：

• Modern authoritarianism is a vestige of traditional personal rule. 现代独裁主义则是传统的个人统治的残余。
• In its latter days it was a byword for authoritarianism, incompetence, and corruption. 在后期，它是独裁、无能和腐化的代号。

8 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

9 clandestine   

adj.秘密的，暗中从事的

参考例句：

• She is the director of clandestine operations of the CIA.她是中央情报局秘密行动的负责人。
• The early Christians held clandestine meetings in caves.早期的基督徒在洞穴中秘密聚会。

10 drawn   

v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的

参考例句：

• All the characters in the story are drawn from life.故事中的所有人物都取材于生活。
• Her gaze was drawn irresistibly to the scene outside.她的目光禁不住被外面的风景所吸引。

11 intrigued   

adj.好奇的，被迷住了的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的过去式)；激起…的兴趣或好奇心；“intrigue”的过去式和过去分词

参考例句：

• You've really intrigued me—tell me more! 你说的真有意思—再给我讲一些吧！
• He was intrigued by her story. 他被她的故事迷住了。

12 apprehensive   

adj.担心的，恐惧的，善于领会的

参考例句：

• She was deeply apprehensive about her future.她对未来感到非常担心。
• He was rather apprehensive of failure.他相当害怕失败。

13 ploy   

n.花招，手段

参考例句：

• I think this is just a government ploy to deceive the public.我认为这只是政府欺骗公众的手段。
• Christmas should be a time of excitement and wonder,not a cynical marketing ploy.圣诞节应该是兴奋和美妙的时刻，而不该是一种肆无忌惮的营销策略。

14 conspire   

v.密谋，（事件等）巧合，共同导致

参考例句：

• They'd conspired to overthrow the government.他们曾经密谋推翻政府。
• History and geography have conspired to bring Greece to a moment of decision.历史和地理因素共同将希腊推至作出抉择的紧要关头。

15 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

16 aspired   

v.渴望，追求( aspire的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She aspired to a scientific career. 她有志于科学事业。
• Britain,France,the United States and Japan all aspired to hegemony after the end of World War I. 第一次世界大战后，英、法、美、日都想争夺霸权。 来自《简明英汉词典》

17 oust   

vt.剥夺，取代，驱逐

参考例句：

• The committee wanted to oust him from the union.委员会想把他从工会中驱逐出去。
• The leaders have been ousted from power by nationalists.这些领导人被民族主义者赶下了台。

18 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

19 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

20 prudent   

adj.谨慎的，有远见的，精打细算的

参考例句：

• A prudent traveller never disparages his own country.聪明的旅行者从不贬低自己的国家。
• You must school yourself to be modest and prudent.你要学会谦虚谨慎。

21 diplomat   

n.外交官，外交家；能交际的人，圆滑的人

参考例句：

• The diplomat threw in a joke, and the tension was instantly relieved.那位外交官插进一个笑话，紧张的气氛顿时缓和下来。
• He served as a diplomat in Russia before the war.战前他在俄罗斯当外交官。

22 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

23 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

24 intervention   

n.介入，干涉，干预

参考例句：

• The government's intervention in this dispute will not help.政府对这场争论的干预不会起作用。
• Many people felt he would be hostile to the idea of foreign intervention.许多人觉得他会反对外来干预。

25 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

26 aborted   

adj.流产的，失败的v.（使）流产( abort的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）（某事物）中止；（因故障等而）（使）（飞机、宇宙飞船、导弹等）中断飞行；（使）（飞行任务等）中途失败

参考例句：

• The rocket flight had to be aborted because of difficulties with computer. 因电脑出故障，这次火箭飞行只好中辍。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They aborted the space flight finally. 他们最后中止了这次宇航飞行。 来自《简明英汉词典》