US President Donald Trump has confirmed that he has already made a decision on the next steps in the military operation he has ordered against Venezuela and “narco-terrorism” in the Caribbean and Pacific waters. However, he did not want to reveal what his plans were.
“I have more or less made the decision,” he declared to the press that accompanied him on the plane. air force one He was traveling to spend the weekend at a private residence in Mar-a-Lago, Florida. “I can’t say what (the decision) will be, but we have made significant progress in our cooperation with Venezuela in terms of preventing drug infiltration into the United States,” he said.
President Trump’s statement came after multiple meetings with his national security team to analyze various options for military operations, including the possibility of direct attacks on targets inside Venezuelan territory. The meeting took place after the aircraft carrier, the world’s largest warship, arrived in the area. gerald fordThe ship, the most modern in the U.S. Navy, joined a convoy of more than a dozen ships that had been in international waters in the Caribbean on the border with Venezuelan waters for three months.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chief of Staff Dan Kaine presented several possibilities to President Trump during a press conference on Wednesday. According to newspaper coverage, that meeting was followed by another meeting this Friday. washington post.
On Thursday, Hegseth announced in a message on social networks the launch of a major operation against “narco-terrorism” in Latin America called the Spear of South America. The U.S. military has already begun assembling attacks on drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific Ocean as part of its operations, which have killed more than 20 people and at least 80 people.
In recent weeks, President Trump and his advisers have sent conflicting signals about Washington’s objectives in this operation. The president has repeatedly declared that attacks on suspected drug smuggling ships have been successful in stopping drugs from reaching the United States, and that the next step would be “land-based action,” given that suspicious boat traffic has plummeted. But since then, he has toned down his statements somewhat.
In a program interview 60 minutes On the CBS television network, Republicans agreed that Maduro’s days in power are “numbered,” but considered the idea of the United States going to war with Venezuela unlikely. And 10 days ago, at a Capitol Hill briefing led by Mr. Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, administration representatives denied that the campaign was considering attacking Venezuela.
The US government has justified the military operation as necessary to combat drug trafficking, which kills tens of thousands of people each year in the country. Many experts, human rights activists, and members of Congress have denounced this as an illegal mission, especially since it was not authorized by the US Congress. The government included several cartels on its list of international terrorist organizations. The group claims its members are enemy combatants and believes it is in a “direct, non-international armed conflict” with these groups, which does not require Capitol Hill approval.
The sheer scale of the deployment has raised suspicions that the real goal is to force the end of Chávez’s government, either through direct action in Venezuela or by exerting psychological pressure to ignite a domestic coup. In recent months, Washington has strengthened ties between Maduro and drug-trafficking cartels. He accuses himself of being the leader of these organizations and believes that his regime, overwhelmed by international sanctions, survives only thanks to the income from this deadly smuggling. In August, the bounty offered for his capture was increased to $50 million.
Adding to the pressure for attacks on alleged drug ships are bomber training flights near the Venezuelan coast and President Trump’s authorization for the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela.
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