President Trump claims that attacks on ships in the Latin American region have stopped 85 percent of drugs smuggled into the US by sea.
US President Donald Trump has said the United States will begin targeting drug trafficking originating in Venezuela “by land route”, the latest escalation in tensions with Caracas, which has accused Washington of plotting to topple Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Trump’s announcement on Thursday came after weeks of deploying US forces, including an aircraft carrier group, stealth fighter jets and thousands of troops to the Latin American region, as Washington’s attacks on so-called drug-trafficking vessels have killed dozens in international waters.
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“You are truly the backbone of America’s airpower, and in recent weeks, you have been working to stop Venezuelan drug traffickers, of whom there are many,” Trump said in a Thanksgiving holiday video address to U.S. forces.
“Obviously, not a lot of people are coming by sea anymore,” Trump said. “People don’t want to deliver by sea and we’re going to start stopping them by land as well.
“The land is easy, but it is about to start very soon. We warned them. Stop sending poison into our country.”
The US President said, “But we will take care of that situation. We are already doing a lot. We have almost stopped it. It is almost 85 percent stopped by sea.”
The US military has launched more than 20 attacks on ships in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean since September, killing at least 83 people. Legal experts and governments in Latin America have described the campaign of attacks as extrajudicial killings.
Washington has provided no evidence to support its allegations that the ships attacked were involved in drug trafficking, and regional leaders say the attacks have mostly killed fishermen.
Trump had previously warned of possible military action against sites in Venezuela and claimed that Maduro and senior members of the Venezuelan government are involved in the drug trade.
Caracas officials say the US is using drug trafficking as a pretext to launch military action to remove Maduro from power and bring about “regime change” in Venezuela.
Speaking on Thursday, Maduro said Venezuelans would not be intimidated despite weeks of US threats.
He said, “For 17 weeks, foreign and imperialist powers have been continuously threatening to disrupt the peace of the Caribbean Sea, South America and Venezuela under false and extraordinary arguments that no one believes in, neither in American public opinion, nor in world public opinion, and even in powerful Venezuelan public opinion.”
“Today, we say that in Venezuela, there is no threat or aggression that frightens our people or surprises us,” Maduro said in a nationally televised speech.
“Our people have prepared themselves with unshakable calm to defend their homeland, their soil, their sea, their sky, their soul and their history,” he said.
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