“I’ve already made up my mind in some way, and I can’t say what it is, but we’ve made a lot of progress with Venezuela in terms of stopping the flow of drugs.” That’s how US President Donald Trump described the next steps in relations with Venezuela and military pressure for a hypothetical operation to overthrow the country’s president, Nicolas Maduro, on Air Force One on his way to Florida for a round of golf this weekend.
The Washington Post reported on Friday that President Trump has met with Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Chief of Staff Dan Kaine in recent hours to discuss “a variety of military options” in Venezuela. The meeting took place 24 hours after Hegseth announced a military operation on the continent called Spear of the South, but did not mention any specific actions, the paper said.
Since September 2nd, the US has killed people in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean, with 80 people killed in 20 attacks. The latest incident, reported this Thursday, left four more people dead, with more than 15,000 soldiers, aircraft carriers, frigates and destroyers converging on the area and preparing a military base in Puerto Rico, while US President Donald Trump declared that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was “sentenced” as the country’s leader.
In addition, President Trump authorized covert CIA operations and announced that attacks at sea would be followed by “strike on land.”
In this context, after showing images of the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier, the largest of the US aircraft carriers in Latin American waters, US Army Secretary Pete Hegseth ceremonially announced the start of Operation Spear of the South. This is a means of christening a military operation that has been going on since September 2 and whose end is soon clear. It was rejected by a two-vote margin of 51-49, especially as opposition to military intervention in Venezuela has grown in the U.S. Congress, as seen in recent votes in the Senate, and after promises that the administration is seeking legal protection against attack but has not yet obtained it.
Pro-Trump Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina gave further clues about what’s going on: “If you’re wondering what’s going on in Venezuela, please know that President Trump is completely determined to stop the narco-terrorist state in Venezuela from continuing to poison Americans with illegal drugs. President Trump also said President Maduro I agree with President Trump’s assessment of the situation in Venezuela. I do not consider President Maduro an illegitimate leader.” Bush Sr. is very happy that President Maduro is committed to ending this terrorist regime quickly, rather than the legitimate leader who overthrew Panamanian leader Noriega in similar circumstances.
Customized legal coverage
According to the New York Times, a confidential Justice Department report authorizing attacks on alleged drug ships is based on the idea that the United States is legally in an armed conflict with drug cartels, a premise that derives largely from arguments presented by the White House.
The report from the department’s Office of General Counsel, more than 40 pages long, authorized the military operation over the summer that began on September 2 and has already claimed 80 lives in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific Ocean, saying such extrajudicial killings were legal under President Trump’s war powers.
The administration maintains that Trump has the legal authority to order the attack under the laws of war, but has provided few details about the legal analysis supporting that conclusion. And the report shows how lawyers approved President Trump’s request without any reservations about the version presented by the White House.
President Maduro: “Do we want a new Gaza in South America?
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro this Friday reacted to Washington’s military deployment in the Caribbean. “Do we now want another Gaza in South America? What are the American people saying? Let me say no. Peace will prevail here,” the president said on state broadcaster Venezolana de Television (VTV).
In his speech, Maduro asked Americans to stop the “crazy hands of those who order the bombing, killing and waging of war” in South America and the Caribbean, without mentioning specific names, Efe newspaper reported.
The president then declared in English and Spanish that “order is peace.” “War, no. Death, no. Peace, and life, and love. Peace, life, and love. No hate, no war,” he declared.
The United Nations has said the U.S. government’s attacks on ships in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean, which have claimed more than 80 lives, are a violation of international law.
Amid rising tensions in the Caribbean, the Bolivarian Alliance of the American Peoples (ALBA) also spoke out, warning of “unprecedented destabilization” in the region if the United States “leap forward” to a “movement of military aggression”.
The bloc is made up of Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Grenada, Saint Lucia and Bolivia, the latter of which has been suspended.
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