The United States announced Operation Southern Spear, this Thursday (13), the most recent step announced in its war on drug trafficking in Latin America.
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The announcement comes just three days after the arrival in the Caribbean of the Pentagon’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and its strike group – more than 4,000 sailors and dozens of aircraft. This is in addition to other warships, a nuclear submarine and fighter jets that were already in the area.
Since last August, the United States has sent its largest military contingent in decades to the Caribbean as part of what it calls the war against drug trafficking, which it links to the Nicolás Maduro regime in Venezuela – currently, the State Department is offering a reward of US$50 million for the capture of the Chavista dictator.
The American government also confiscated more than US$700 million in assets from Maduro, whom they accuse of leading the Cartel of the Suns, declared a terrorist group by Donald Trump’s government in July.
This military deployment also strained relations between Washington and Colombia and its president, Gustavo Petro, whom Trump accused of being a “drug trafficker”.
Remember the most significant events of the diplomatic and military escalation in the region
Em August 8Trump authorized the use of military force against Latin American cartels, designated by his government as terrorist organizations. The legal basis used to justify the actions to Congress still lacks details.
Em September 2the United States announced its first attack on a vessel in the Caribbean, alleging that eleven members of the Tren de Aragua criminal group were on board the boat, having left Venezuela to transport drugs to the country. Since then, the American Armed Forces have destroyed at least 19 speedboats and boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, leaving more than 70 people dead, who are accused of drug trafficking.
Em September 15thtensions between Colombia and the White House increased when the United States removed the South American country – the world’s largest cocaine producer – from its list of countries that cooperate in the fight against drug trafficking.
Still during this period, the United States revoked President Gustavo Petro’s visa after his participation in a pro-Palestinian demonstration in New York, during the UN General Assembly.
Em October 28ththe deployment of United States naval forces was carried out in the Caribbean, near the coast of Venezuela, the largest in the country’s history since the first Gulf War (1990-1991), which destabilized the regime of Nicolás Maduro.
Em October 31the UN accused the United States of “violating international law” with military attacks in international waters.
Em November 10the US Department of Defense sent ground troops to conduct training exercises in the Panamanian jungle for the first time in decades, according to the ABC News.
Not last is 11Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López reported that 200,000 soldiers were mobilized across the country as part of new readiness exercises in response to “threats” from the United States. Furthermore, the Maduro dictatorship is preparing a guerrilla response for a possible American mobilization inside Venezuela.
In this Friday (14)Russia spoke out against new actions by the United States that could destabilize Venezuela and the entire Caribbean region, following the Pentagon’s announcement about Operation Southern Spear.