- Статьи
- World
- Shock flow: the United States switched from Ukraine to the fight against drug trafficking through Venezuela
Shock flow: the United States switched from Ukraine to the fight against drug trafficking through Venezuela
The situation around Venezuela is moving into a stage of military escalation — against the background of the stalling in the Ukrainian settlement, the US authorities are trying to demonstrate success in the fight against drug trafficking. Allegedly, in order to stop the supply of cocaine to the country, they do not exclude even the possibility of intervention and a change of the political regime in the Latin American country. The US Navy is concentrating its ships in the Caribbean, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio went to Mexico and Ecuador for military support. Caracas responded decisively: by order of Nicolas Maduro, on September 5, the mobilization of more than 12 million people began. There are no threats to Russians in Venezuela yet, but it is difficult to predict the situation, the Russian Embassy told Izvestia. What the increased pressure on Venezuela may lead to is in the Izvestia article.
The United States is concentrating the Navy near Venezuela
For the first time in the history of the country, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced the beginning of the mobilization of volunteers in community militia units. It began on September 5 and takes place against the background of escalation in relations between Caracas and Washington. In total, to protect the sovereignty of the republic, it is planned to mobilize more than 12 million people — 8.2 million in community units, in addition to the 4.5 million militia members already in reserve, who previously underwent many years of training.
"The world was surprised by our mass conscription, when entire families signed up in every community in the country. <...> The first cycle of activation of all those who signed up for the militia will be conducted, reservists at all levels will be called up," Maduro said.
The situation began to escalate in early August, after Donald Trump secretly signed a directive allowing the Pentagon to use military force against some Latin American drug cartels. On September 4, referring to satellite images, Newsweek announced the presence of an entire squadron of the US Navy in the Caribbean Sea near Venezuela: the destroyers USS Gravely and USS Jason Dunham, the coastal zone ship USS Minneapolis-St. Paul, the landing ship Iwo Jima, the amphibious transport dock USS San Antonio and the amphibious helicopter dock The USS Fort Lauderdale. The images were also captured by P-8A Poseidon anti-submarine aircraft and Boeing C-17 Globemaster III military transport aircraft. The multi-purpose nuclear submarine USS Newport News also performs its tasks in the region, but its exact location is unknown.
— Currently, the risks of a direct collision are much higher than in previous years. The cancellation of two military exercises in Brazil by the Americans is significant. It seems that the US Southern Command does not want to disperse its military potential, and is going to concentrate on the waters of the Caribbean Sea under the pretext of conducting military operations against drug cartels. But in fact, we are talking about forceful pressure, both actual and psychological, on Venezuela," says Andrei Pyatakov, a leading researcher at the ILA RAS.
Despite this, the situation in Venezuela is calm now, and there is no threat to Russians, the embassy in Caracas told Izvestia.
— As President Nicolas Maduro stated, the Bolivarian people are ready to defend national sovereignty and freedom. Certain measures have been taken for this. At the moment, there is no threat to Russians staying in the republic. However, it is not easy to predict the further development of the situation in the current conditions," the Russian diplomats noted.
Trump said that the US military had already managed to strike a ship of the Venezuelan criminal group Tren de Aragua and kill 11 drug traffickers. At the same time, a number of experts believe that the fight against drug trafficking is just a cover for the operation to overthrow Maduro, whom the United States itself considers the leader of the Cartel of the Suns (Cartel de los Soles) and promises a reward of $ 50 million for help in his capture.
However, even the American administration does not hide the fact that Trump may decide on a possible change of power in Venezuela, Pentagon Chief Pete Hegseth said in an interview with Fox News on September 3. He noted that "this decision is at the presidential level," and the Pentagon is ready to "use all the resources available to the American army."
— The desire for a change of power in Venezuela is a constant of any administration in the United States. Now the degree of pressure has been significantly increased, to the point of simulating intervention actions under the pretext of an operation against drug cartels. Although Venezuela is not among the main drug transporters to the United States and the EU, it is significantly inferior to Colombia and Ecuador," says Andrei Pyatakov, a leading researcher at the ILA RAS.
Indeed, even according to the Bureau of International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement (INL, part of the U.S. Department of State), about 250 tons of cocaine pass through the Bolivarian Republic annually — no more than 13% of its total volume on world markets, while as much as 1,400 tons pass through Guatemala (data for 2018-2020, the latest published). Moreover, Venezuela is in no way involved in the production of fentanyl, which the United States is actively fighting against — almost all of its volume falls on Mexico.
How the United States is fighting drug trafficking
The actions of the American administration to combat drug trafficking in recent days have become almost the main topic of news in the United States. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio traveled to Latin America this week to discuss this issue.
— Trump, as a pragmatist, is interested in constructive cooperation with Caracas. Certain steps have already been taken in this direction. However, Trump may be under pressure from the neoconservative part of the establishment, especially from Secretary of State Rubio, for whom Venezuela, like Cuba, is a sore subject. That is, in this case, politics intersects with pragmatics, and it is impossible to predict which side will prevail," says Magomed Kodzoev, senior researcher at the Institute of Latin America of the Russian Academy of Sciences.
The official visit of the United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio to Ecuador
On September 3, Marco Rubio met with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Foreign Minister Juan Ramon de la Fuente. The parties confirmed their commitment to cooperation in the fight against drug cartels and other transnational criminal groups.
Rubio's next stop was Ecuador. The head of the State Department promised to provide the republic's authorities with almost $ 20 million to strengthen security, including the purchase of American drones. In addition, following talks with Foreign Minister Gabriela Sommerfeld, the United States began to consider the possibility of establishing its own military base on the territory of the Latin American state. In response, Quito confirmed its willingness to accept deported citizens from third countries.
To combat drug cartels, the United States has already ordered the deployment of 10 F-35 fighter jets at an airfield in Puerto Rico.
— The escalation around Venezuela began after two events — the failure of leftist forces in the elections in Bolivia (the first round was held on August 17, and two candidates representing right-wing forces entered the next round of voting. — Ed.) and the Alaska summit. In the first case, one of the links in the ranks of support for Venezuela was knocked out — one of its important regional allies and partners in the Bolivarian Alliance. This expanded the possibilities of pressure on Venezuela. In the second case, the United States apparently decided to create a counterweight to a powerful rapprochement with Russia and exert forceful pressure on its key partner in Latin America," continued Andrei Pyatakov.
Elections in Bolivia
Trump's intention to win on the drug trafficking front may be due precisely to the delay in resolving the Russian-Ukrainian crisis. After Donald Trump's personal meeting with Vladimir Putin in Alaska on August 15 and with Vladimir Zelensky in Washington on August 18, Moscow and Kiev have not yet reached tangible agreements and have not agreed on future meetings. However, the American president emphasizes a "good dialogue" with the Russian leader, and also announced an early conversation with him. On September 5, Vladimir Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov noted that a new round of talks between the heads of the Russian Federation and the United States could be organized very quickly, if necessary.
However, even during the election campaign, Trump promised to end illegal migration and drug trafficking. And the withdrawal of the military to the Caribbean is just one of the practical measures in this matter. The United States has previously imposed sanctions on cartel members and arrested their members. In order to encourage the authorities of Mexico and Canada to combat the flow of drugs into the United States, Trump, among other things, imposed 25 percent tariffs on goods from these countries.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
