Years ago, my late father reacted to the shooting by a Cuban MiG of four Cuban-Americans on international waters, or the sad "brothers to the rescue" episode.  He said something along the lines that communists shoot to kill.

Yesterday, we saw an armored vehicle attack a Venezuelan crowd in a manner reminiscent of a terrorist attack in Barcelona or Nice or New York.

My guess is that we will see a more "shooting to kill," because Maduro has the Cubans and apparently Russians defending him, as we see in this report:

Two Russian military planes landed in Venezuela on March 24, carrying about 100 military personnel and 35 tons of their equipment, Russian officials said.  U.S. National Security Advisor John Bolton responded in a March 29 statement that this was a provocation, and a "direct threat to international peace and security in the region."

Honestly, I don't take the Russians too seriously here.  Why not?  Because Russia is not going to war with the U.S. over Venezuela.  My guess is that Putin just wants to be around when the dust settles.

The Cubans are a different situation.  I've heard from Venezuelans that Cubans are everywhere, from patrols on motorcycles to protecting Maduro.  It's clear to me that the Cubans will be the ones that U.S. Special Forces will be fighting with if an intervention comes.

President Trump must be aware of this because he is warning Cuba.  His first warning was to implement a total embargo with highest level sanctions.

What happens next?  I don't know, but let's remember that communists shoot to kill, and they will do a lot of shooting to kill to protect Maduro.

PS: You can listen to my show (Canto Talk) and follow me on Twitter.