credit, Reuters
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- author, Mariana Alvim
- roll, From BBC News Brazil in São Paulo
In yet another chapter in the US offensive against what it calls “narco-terrorism” in Latin America, the US government announced this Thursday (11/13) the start of a military operation on the orders of President Donald Trump.
The operation, dubbed “Southern Spear,” will mobilize the task force responsible for U.S. military operations in Central and South America and the Caribbean, as well as the U.S. Southern Command (Southcom).
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announces the operation on social networks
“The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood, and we will protect it,” he insisted. The U.S. government calls the position “Secretary of the Army.”
It is still unclear exactly where and how the surgery will take place.
Senior government officials on Wednesday (11/12) presented President Trump with options for possible actions in Venezuela, including land-based bombing, in the coming days, according to sources heard by the BBC’s US partner CBS network.
Hegseth was reportedly present at the meeting, as was Gen. Dan Cain, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff. However, no final decision on the form of the operation would have been made.
As a result of this conversation, Operation Spear de Sul was announced this Thursday, according to CBS.
Tensions between the United States and Venezuela are not new and have escalated in recent weeks, including speculation of a possible U.S. attack on land.
Meanwhile, the United States has already carried out 20 attacks against vessels suspected of being involved in drug trafficking, mainly in the Caribbean, but also in the Pacific Ocean, according to CNN.
Eighty people died in these actions, and two survived.
The USS Gerald R. Ford joins other warships, nuclear submarines and F-35 fighter jets operating in the region in recent weeks.
Over the past two months, the U.S. military has been conducting the largest military deployment to the Caribbean region in decades.
President Trump has repeatedly accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of being a suspected drug trafficker, a charge the South American denies and says the United States is “fabricating a war” against Venezuela.
Also on Tuesday, the Venezuelan government announced a national military mobilization to counter the US naval presence.
credit, Getty Images
The tensions have also affected Colombia, where President Trump has denounced President Gustavo Petro as a “criminal and a bad guy.”
On Tuesday, Petro ordered Colombia’s military to stop sharing information with U.S. government agencies until attacks on boats in the Caribbean stop.
Petro wrote in X magazine that the war on drugs “must be subject to the human rights of Caribbean people.”
In early November, President Trump downplayed speculation that he was planning to overthrow Venezuela’s government or start a war.
“Every time you see a ship go down, 25,000 drug-related people are killed and families are destroyed across our country,” Trump claimed in an interview with CBS.
Asked if the U.S. was planning a ground attack, Trump refused to rule out the possibility, saying, “I’m not going to say we will…I’m not going to say what we’re going to do with Venezuela, whether we’re going to do it or not.”
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