The Venezuelan dictator, Nicolás Maduro, said on Monday that the United States seeks a change of regime in Venezuela with the sending of military ships to the Caribbean waters.
Tensions between the United States and Venezuela have increased in recent weeks amid a large increase in US naval presence in the southern Caribbean and in waters near the Venezuelan coast. American authorities claim that the goal is to face the threats of Latin American drug cartels.
US President Donald Trump has made drug cartels repression a central goal of his government as part of a broader effort to protect the southern US border.
But Maduro, the Venezuelan interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, and other authorities said that US military escalation intends to justify an intervention against Venezuela.
“They are looking for a regime change through military threats,” said Maduro. You
The Venezuelan government mocked the US allegations that the
In early August, the United States doubled their reward for information leading to Maduro’s prison to $ 50 million, claiming that the Venezuelan dictator is the leader of criminal organizations.
Although US and US Navy ships operate regularly in the southern Caribbean, the current military presence is significantly higher than usual for the region
It is unclear exactly how US military presence could interrupt drug trafficking. This is because most of the maritime drug trade arrives in the US through the Pacific, not the Atlantic, where the US forces are.
In addition, trafficking through the Caribbean arrives mostly from clandestine flights, according to the Global Cocaine Report of 2023 of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
