The USS Gerald R. Ford will “strengthen the United States’ ability to detect, monitor and disrupt illegal actors and activities that threaten the security and prosperity of the United States and our security in the Western Hemisphere,” said Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell. The aim is to “dismantle transnational criminal organizations and resist narcoterrorism,” explained Southcom.
The Venezuelan Defense Ministry had previously declared a “massive deployment” of land, sea, air, river and missile forces as well as civilian militias. According to Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino, 200,000 soldiers took part in an exercise. Padrino accused the US Army of “murdering defenseless people, regardless of whether they are drug traffickers or not.”
Trump has sent several warships and fighter jets to the Caribbean in recent weeks. At the beginning of September, the US Army began attacks on alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean, and later boats in the eastern Pacific were also attacked. According to the US, at least 76 people have been killed in at least 20 US attacks in international waters so far. The US has not yet provided any evidence that the boats attacked were actually carrying drugs.
Washington accuses Venezuela of actively promoting drug smuggling into the United States and thereby endangering the security of the United States and its citizens. Venezuela’s left-wing nationalist President Nicolás Maduro, however, classified the killings of suspected drug smugglers as illegal “executions” and suspected US plans to overthrow him. Trump recently denied planning military attacks on Venezuela. At the same time, he said Maduro’s days are numbered.
Russia, on which Maduro is economically and politically dependent, condemned the actions of the US army in the Caribbean as “unacceptable”. “This is how lawless countries and those that consider themselves above the law usually act,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said. The U.S. Army destroyed the boats “without trial or investigation” and “without presenting any facts,” he said. The fight against drug trafficking is merely a “pretext” for Washington.
The British government, meanwhile, declined to comment on a report by US broadcaster CNN that London had stopped sharing its intelligence information on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean with the US to avoid involvement in possible attacks. “We do not comment on security or intelligence issues,” said a spokesman for British Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Tuesday in London. The US is Britain’s “closest defense, security and intelligence partner,” he emphasized.
International observers see the US attacks as extrajudicial executions and contrary to international law – even if they were actually directed against drug traffickers. UN Human Rights Commissioner Volker Türk called on the US government on Monday to review its actions. Türk told the AFP news agency that there were “strong indications” that the attacks were extrajudicial killings.
