Washington, Nov. 14 - Amid an unprecedented military deployment in the Caribbean, the United States announced Operation Southern Spear for - they say - the fight against drugs, which many see today as a growing threat against Venezuela.
The operation falls within the area of influence of Southern Command, which is prepared for military missions in Central America, South America, and surrounding waters. However, neither the Pentagon nor the White House has specified the exact objectives, duration, or boundaries of the operation.
El presidente Donald Trump recibió evaluaciones sobre posibles acciones dentro de Venezuela. La CBS reportó que altos mandos militares le presentaron el miércoles «opciones actualizadas» para un eventual ataque a ese país de América Latina, aunque no se llegó a conclusión alguna.
However, the president recently stated in an interview with CBS that he was not considering attacks within the South American nation, despite having previously given the green light to covert actions by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in that country.
Political observers believe the Republican president is still weighing the cost-benefit of a military adventure with incalculable risks and consequences.
Since September 2, under the guise of combating drug trafficking, the United States government has been carrying out a campaign of attacks against vessels that, without evidence, it alleges are dedicated to the illegal trafficking of narcotics to the northern country, the world's largest drug market.
Last night, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth reported on social media the twentieth US attack on a suspected drug-trafficking boat in the Caribbean. Four people died as a result.
“The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood, and we will protect it,” he wrote on the internet platform.
This week the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford arrived in the Caribbean, which, according to the United States Navy, is "the most capable, adaptable and lethal combat platform in the world".
Attacks against suspected drug-trafficking vessels have so far resulted in the deaths of at least 80 people. The campaign has spread from the Caribbean to the eastern Pacific.
Democrats in Congress and international leaders are questioning the legality of these attacks, which have occurred without the presentation of evidence or convincing arguments.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Friday that these acts violate international law and called for them to be stopped.
“These attacks and their growing human cost are unacceptable,” emphasized human rights commissioner Volker Türk in a recent statement released by his office.
"The United States," he stressed, "must stop these attacks and take all necessary measures to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people on board these vessels."
The Trump administration recently issued a classified legal opinion attempting to justify these actions, but Jeffrey Stein, an attorney with the ACLU's National Security Project, warned that "all available evidence suggests that President Trump's lethal attacks in the Caribbean constitute, quite simply, murder."
In that regard, he insisted that "the public deserves to know how our government justifies these attacks as legal."
Venezuela warned of Washington's intentions. The country's Defense Minister, Vladimir Padrino, stated that "peace in the Caribbean is being threatened" based on a lie that has been "fabricated in the U.S. State Department."
Meanwhile, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil denounced the day before that they are facing "an attempted invasion, an attempted aggression, an attempt to subjugate a free and sovereign population, in violation of all international human rights principles that we know."
