American soldiers in the Caribbean attacked a boat from Venezuela on Tuesday afternoon. Eleven people were killed. Donald Trump said that His social media platform Truth Social. According to the US president, the boat was fully loaded with drugs. Trump does not give evidence for that statement.
Members of Tren would have been the Aragua on the boat, a Venezuelan drug gang that, according to Trump is led by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. “The attack took place while the terrorists were at sea in international waters and transporting illegal drugs, on the way to the US,” Trump writes. He calls the attack “a warning for anyone who even thinks about smuggling drugs into the US.” In the message he shares a video of a small boat that is hit by an explosive.
Rising tensions
The incident is a new escalation in the tensions of the United States and Venezuela that have been rising longer. In recent weeks, the US has scaled up their military presence in the Caribbean enormously. In international waters, on the outskirts of Venezuelan waters, there is now a fleet with torpedo boot hunters with Tomahawk cross-missiles and two naval ships with nearly seven thousand soldiers, assisted by submarines and fighter jets.
The military structure is explained by the Pentagon as part of their fight against Latin American drug gangs, who are responsible for the large quantities of fentanyl and cocaine that flood the American market. At the beginning of August, the US government gave according to The New York Times Permission for the use of military violence against these drug cartels, although that decision has never been published to date.
The American muscle display at sea is accompanied by an increasing hostile attitude towards the Venezuelan government. At the end of July accused the US government The Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro led a terrorist organization that is called the ‘Cartel de Los Soles’, or the ‘sun cartel’.
That organization would consist of high -ranking members of the Venezuelan army and would be involved in drug smuggling to the US. The name sun cartel seems to have been made up by the US itself and derived from the insignia on the military uniforms of generals in Venezuela. A few weeks after that accusation followed the announcement That the US government increased the prize “for information that led to the arrest and/or condemnation of Nicolás Maduro” to 50 million dollars.
‘Imperial aggression’
That same month the announcement followed that the US would drastically expand their military presence off the Venezuelan coast. Where from the White House it was officially pointed to a large-scale anti-drug surgery, white house spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt looked like to play in between nose and lips Regime Change: “The Maduro regime is not the legitimate government of Venezuela. It is a narcoter rider cartel. Maduro is not a legitimate president,” she said.
In a reaction, Maduro brought the Venezuelan army into the highest state of readiness, sent more soldiers to the borders of the country and staged the number of patrols by the Venezuelan navy. Armed militias in the country -ravaged country have been called upon to join the government. On a press conference on Monday, the Venezuelan leader did not shy away from big words. “Venezuela is confronted with the biggest threat that our continent has known in 100 years,” he said. “There are eight warships with 1,200 missiles and a nuclear submarine focused on Venezuela.”
According to Maduro, the US wants to overthrow its government with the military threat. On state television, people are called upon to defend the homeland ‘against imperial aggression’. It was striking that Maduro seemed to avoid a direct confrontation with Trump himself in his press conference: he pointed his arrows at his foreign minister Rubio. “Mr. Trump, beware, because Marco Rubio wants to tarnish your hands with Latin American blood,” said Maduro.