Trump threatens to attack Venezuelan drug traffickers by land as well “very soon”
Caracas revoked on Wednesday the operating licenses of airlines such as Spain’s Iberia, Portugal’s TAP, Turkish Airlines, Colombia’s Avianca and Latam Colombia, and Brazil’s Gol, which suspended their flights to the Venezuelan capital following the US warning.
US President Donald Trump warned on Thursday that the Armed Forces “will begin very soon” to combat Venezuelan drug traffickers on land, considering the military operations at sea a success.
“You’ve probably already realized that people no longer want to ship drugs by sea, and we’re going to start seizing them on land as well,” the Republican stressed during a televised Thanksgiving address to the Armed Forces.
“The land route is easier, but that will begin very soon,” he assured, at a time of rising tensions between Washington and Caracas.
The President, who did not specify what the land operations would entail, highlighted, from Florida, the attacks in the Caribbean and the Pacific, where US forces have killed more than 80 people by destroying more than 20 vessels allegedly linked to drug trafficking, mainly from Venezuela, since September 1st.
The head of state justified the bombings by stating that alleged drug traffickers in Venezuela “are sending their poison to the United States, where they kill thousands of people every year.”
“But we will take care of the situation. We are already doing a lot. We have almost managed to contain the trafficking. We have already interrupted 85% of the maritime flow,” he indicated.
Under the pretext of combating drug trafficking and pursuing those it labels as narcoterrorists, the United States maintains a military presence in the Caribbean Sea, recently reinforced with the arrival of its largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford.
Trump had already insisted that he had not yet decided to bomb infrastructure in Venezuela or attack Maduro, with whom he “could talk to save many lives,” as he stated on Tuesday, a conversation that would be “welcome,” according to Venezuela’s Attorney General, Tarek William Saab.
Maduro considers this presence “a threat” to his removal from office, so he ordered Air Force members to be “on alert and ready.”
On Monday, the U.S. State Department classified the so-called Cartel de Los Soles as a foreign terrorist group, which the Trump administration claims is led by Maduro, along with high-ranking officers in the Venezuelan Armed Forces and government officials, although Caracas reacted by stating that it is “a fabrication.”
Adding to this tense scenario was an air travel crisis in Venezuela last Saturday, due to the cancellation of international flights, after Washington recommended “extreme caution” when flying over Venezuelan territory and the southern Caribbean, because of what it considers to be “a potentially dangerous situation” in the region.