Don’s shore-fire drug war
US navy heads towards Venezuela after Maduro’s cocaine indictment
US navy ships are being moved towards Venezuela as the Trump administration beefs-up counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean following a drug indictment against the South American country’s President Nicolas Maduro.
President Donald Trump’s announcement was a break from the daily White House press briefing to discuss the coronavirus pandemic, which has left much of the country in lockdown.
“The Venezuelan people continue to suffer tremendously due to Maduro and his criminal control over the country, and drug traffickers are seizing on this lawlessness,” Defence Secretary Mark Esper said after the President’s announcement.
The mission involves sending additional navy warships, surveillance aircraft and special forces teams to nearly double the US counter-narcotics capacity in the Western Hemisphere, with forces operating both in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Esper said the mission would be supported by 22 partner nations.
“As governments and nations focus on the coronavirus there is a growing threat that cartels, criminals, terrorists and other malign actors will try to exploit the situation for their own gain,” President Trump said. “We must not let that happen.”
The enhanced mission has been months in the making but has taken on greater urgency following last week’s indictment of Mr Maduro, Venezuela’s embattled socialist leader, and members of his inner circle and military. They are accused of leading a narco-terrorist conspiracy responsible for smuggling up to 250 metric tonnes of cocaine a year into the US, about half of it by sea.
“If I was just indicted for drug trafficking by the United States, with a $15 million reward for my capture, having the US Navy conducting antidrug operations off my coast would be something I would worry about,” Sen Marco Rubio, a Florida Republican calling for a tougher stance against Maduro, said.
It also comes as Maduro steps up attacks on his US-backed rival, Juan Guaido. Mr Maduro’s chief prosecutor ordered Mr Guaido to provide testimony today as part of an investigation into an alleged coup attempt. Mr Guaido, the head of Venezuela’s congress who is recognised as his country’s legitimate leader by the US, is unlikely to show up, raising the possibility he could be arrested. The US has long insisted it will not tolerate any harm against Mr Guaido.
Mr Maduro has blasted the Trump administration’s offer of a $15 million reward for his arrest, calling it the work of a “racist cowboy” aimed at getting US hands on Venezuela’s vast oil reserves, the world’s largest.