In 2019, the US president, Donald Trump reviewed the options to respond to the political and humanitarian crisis that exists in Venezuela, despite what he said was not supported by a show of force in the region, now yes…
The picture changed radically as of Wednesday, when Trump “surrounded by top US officials. announced a greater military presence near the Venezuelan coasts, something that had not been seen in decades, the ElNuevoHerald noted.
At a press conference, Defense Secretary Mark Esper, Director of the National Security Council Robert O’Brien and United States Attorney General William Barr, assured that “the expansion of the anti-narcotics operation in the Caribbean and the coast that gives to the Pacific Ocean, it also aimed to deny funds to Maduro and his closest allies, who were recently charged on drug trafficking charges,” reported ElNuevoHerald.
A senior Trump administration official told the newspaper, “When we started the maximum pressure policy in January, the resident p analyzed what our military assets were in the western hemisphere because obviously, all options were and are on the table.”
Then he added, “There was no balance. Most of our assets were in the Middle East, Asia, etc., so he asked to balance those assets to have the necessary presence in the hemisphere to see where this situation was going” with respect to Venezuela.
Despite the presence of the coronavirus that is plaguing the entire world, and now the epicenter has moved to the United States, Trump’s foreign policy did not lessen, but instead decided to report that they consider Nicolás Maduro not just a president “illegitimate” but also a “narcoterrorist”, and this aspect is what justifies the operation that he deployed on the Caribbean coast.
During the interview with the senior official, he made reference to “the destabilization that the political and humanitarian crisis in Venezuela has generated throughout the region as another imperative to expand the United States’ military presence in the hemisphere.”
In fact, Colombia is the country that has suffered the most from the migratory crisis of Venezuelans, who are fleeing by the thousands towards that nation, but not only does that situation affect President Duque, but the support that Maduro gives to the FARC “narcoterrorists” and The ELN who live in Venezuela under the protection of the dictatorship and affect Colombia, that is why it has asked for help from other countries to stop this situation.
After Trump’s announcement, the US defense secretary He posted on his Twitter account a list of the forces mobilized for the mission, which includes Navy destroyers, Coast Guard ships, combat ships, helicopters, P-8 patrol aircraft, and Air Force E aircraft. -3 AWACS and E-8 JSTARS to carry out surveillance, control and communications tasks.
ElNuevoHerald highlighted that “the operation also includes security forces.”
At Wednesday’s press conference, Gen. Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said there were “thousands” of sailors, coastguards, soldiers, pilots and marines involved.
The director of the Defense Oversight program at the Washington Office for Latin America, Adam Isaacson, commented on the US force mobilized in the Caribbean, “I don’t remember the last time there were destroyers of the United States Navy in the Caribbean or the eastern Pacific coast (in operations, not exercises),”
Then added: “And each E-3 AWACS aircraft costs more than $250 million,” reported ElNuevoHerald.
In this regard, the United States Southern Command, which will carry out the operation in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific coast, these aircraft have been in use in the region.
Southcom spokesman José Ruiz commented “AWACS is one of the aircraft we have used to perform detection and monitoring operations in the past.”
Later Ruiz asserted, “With regard to Navy ships, ships with runways are part of the deployment that allows the interruption of illicit drugs that flow into the United States.”
Ruiz said, “Such Coast Guard military deployment units — comprised of maritime patrol aircraft, a runway ship, a helicopter, and a police detachment — are standard in anti-narcotics operations.”
Meanwhile, the commander of Southcom, Admiral Craig Faller, has advocated for more resources for this type of operations in Central and South America.
In March, Faller commented in a hearing in Congress that “the United States military presence would increase in the region in terms of ships, planes and security forces to” reassure partners “in the fight against” illicit drug trafficking,” he said.
This news is disturbing to the top leaders of the Chavista dictatorship, and has given hope among the population that a US military action against Maduro is taking place.
The source who holds a high position in the Trump administration reiterated that the operation sends a message to Maduro, who must cooperate with the Justice Department and the United States to find a negotiated solution.
Source: Miamidiario
