On Saturday, Reuters published an exclusive report claiming that the United States is “ready to launch a new phase of Venezuela-related operations within days.” The report cited four U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity. Two of the officials said the covert operation was likely the first step in this “new action” against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
This was hardly shocking news, considering that more than a month ago, US President Donald Trump himself announced that he had authorized the CIA to carry out covert operations in Venezuela. It’s a fairly unique approach, since actions that are supposed to be secret aren’t usually broadcast.
In any case, it is a well-known fact that the United States is overseeing a large-scale military buildup in the region, and that approximately 15,000 American troops are currently stationed in the region under the pretext of combating “narco-terrorism.” Since early September, President Trump has also orchestrated outrageous extrajudicial executions in the Caribbean and repeatedly ordered bombings of ships he claims are drug-trafficking ships.
In addition to violating both international and U.S. law, the attack accomplished nothing other than terrorizing local fishermen.
Indeed, the United States has never encountered a “war on drugs” that it doesn’t like, given that the whole drug war saga has wreaked havoc around the world, giving it a convenient opportunity to militarize the Western Hemisphere, criminalize poor Americans, and do all sorts of other good things.
Never mind that U.S. financial institutions have been profiting from the international drug trade for decades, or that, as a New York Times website article puts it, “the CIA’s drug connections are as old as the agency itself.”
It is no surprise now that a president who campaigned to keep the United States out of war and then quickly bombed Iran has now found himself in a new conflict, this time involving the country. And, as is typical of American imperial belligerence, the rationale for invasion of Venezuela is baseless.
For example, the Trump administration has sought to shift the blame for the fentanyl crisis in the United States onto Maduro. However, there is a slight problem. That said, Venezuela doesn’t even produce the synthetic opioids in question.
As NBC News and other less radical outlets have pointed out, Venezuelan drug cartels are focused on exporting cocaine to Europe, not fentanyl to the United States.
Nevertheless, on November 13, U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth (sorry, U.S. Army Secretary Pete Hegseth, as per his administrative change) assured his audience that the massive U.S. military buildup off the coast of Venezuela was a mission to “defend the homeland, remove narco-terrorists from the hemisphere, and protect the homeland from the drugs that are killing our people.”
Of course, this is the same administration that threatened to starve poor Americans by withholding essential food aid, suggesting that the well-being of “our people” is not actually its primary concern.
Consider also the fact that President Trump has cut federal funding for gun violence prevention programs in a country where mass shootings are commonplace. Clearly, the elementary school massacre is “killing the people” in a way that has nothing to do with Venezuela.
But it’s much more fun to blame everything on Maduro, right?
Poverty itself is a leading cause of death in America, as is the domestic pharmaceutical industry (when it comes to opioids). However, none of these full-scale crises deserved a strong response from a distance by the brave defenders of the Motherland.
Like his predecessor Hugo Chávez, Maduro has long been a thorn in the side of the American empire, and the current campaign seeks to discredit him as a “narco-terrorist” and thereby set the stage for regime change. He is also a favorite target of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is considered the main architect of Washington’s war plans in Venezuela. Mr. Rubio, who may be eyeing a presidential bid in three years, is trying to win support from a Florida constituency that includes fanatical right-wing members of the Venezuelan and Cuban diaspora.
According to a Reuters report on an impending “Venezuela-related operation,” two U.S. officials consulted told the news agency that “options on the table included an attempt to overthrow Maduro.” If the plan is successful, Mr. Rubio will join a growing list of American politicians who have sowed deadly havoc abroad in pursuit of political gain at home.
Meanwhile, the Washington Post reported on Saturday that the White House had “proposed the idea of US military planes distributing leaflets over Caracas in a psychological operation” to put pressure on President Maduro.
Sounds like a page, or leaflet, from an old Israeli military strategy.
And as the Trump administration presses ahead with its not-so-secret plans for Venezuela, such hemispheric recklessness will not protect the U.S. homeland or anyone else’s.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.
