Trump’s deployment of three Aegis guided-missile destroyers to Venezuelan waters presents a striking contradiction. Whilst officially framed as counter-narcotics operations targeting Latin American drug cartels, the White House has simultaneously raised the bounty on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to $25 million, accusing him of leading these very cartels.
The deployment appears part of a broader strategy extending across the region. Mexico faces particularly intense pressure, with the Pentagon preparing target packages at Fort Bragg for potential operations against cartel leaders like ”El Mencho”.
Bolivian President Luis Arce:
”Behind this failed international war on drugs lies the real objective to geopolitically control Latin America for its natural resources”.
Operation Fast and Furious
American military interventions in Latin America under the guise of drug enforcement have a troubled history. Operation Fast and Furious, a botched ATF operation running from 2009 to 2010, allowed over 2,000 weapons to ”walk” into Mexico ostensibly to track gun trafficking networks, resulting in Border Patrol agent Brian Terry’s death and an estimated 300 Mexican casualties.
The scandal ultimately led to Attorney General Eric Holder being held in contempt of Congress for refusing to produce subpoenaed documents.
Is the Trump administration truly focused on combating cartels, or is this deployment positioning assets for a potential operation to nab Maduro, which the US has had in its cross-hairs for a long time?
Sources
- CBS News: U.S. warships to sail off Venezuela as tension soars between Trump and Maduro regime over cartel accusations
- U.S. State Department: Nicolás Maduro Moros – United States Department of State
- RT: US masking attempt to control Latin America with ’drug war’ – Bolivian president
- Rolling Stone: Team Trump Is Actually Drawing Up Attack Plans for Mexico
- The Heritage Foundation: Operation Fast and Furious: How a Botched Justice Department Operation Led to a Standoff over Executive Privilege