The Pentagon launched the military operation this Thursday southern spearbut without explaining the objectives and implications of this step in its strategy in the Caribbean and generating greater tension in the midst of pressure from the Administration of President Donald Trump on Venezuela.
This operation was announced by the Secretary of War, , in his official X account, defining it as a mission that seeks to expel “narco-terrorists” from the hemisphere and protect the United States “from drugs.”
Hegseth’s announcement was not accompanied by context or the temporality of the mission, which raised doubts about whether it is a renaming of the operations that the Southern Command has been carrying out in international waters since August in the Caribbean and the Pacific against boats that supposedly transport drugs or if it is a new step in the strategy with operations not yet announced.
Hours before the news from the Pentagon, the Secretary of State, , ruled out the presence of military forces in Mexico and refused to undertake “unilateral actions” in the neighboring country against drug trafficking without the country’s authorities requesting it.
However, in the case of Venezuela and Colombia, Trump did not rule out possible attacks on ground targets, as he announced in October in different interventions in the Oval Office.
Attacks in the Pacific and the Caribbean
Under the argument of combating drug trafficking, the Donald Trump Administration escalated its offensive against Latin American cartels that it considers terrorists and to whom it has declared a “direct armed conflict.”
Since August, US forces have reinforced their operations in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, deploying troops and warships to the region. In September, Washington began attacking boats, arguing that they were linked to drug trafficking, and so far it has sunk at least 20 boats and killed 75 people on board.
The UN has rejected these attacks for .
For three days now, the United States military deployment has included the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, the Pentagon’s largest, and its entire attack group – more than 4,000 sailors and dozens of tactical aircraft.
Washington also sent ground forces to Panama, the first time in more than two decades that the US Army has deployed conventional troops to the country. Both the United States and Panama have denied that this movement has anything to do with the Caribbean operations, which, according to official reports, have seized more than 76,000 pounds of drugs.
Venezuela responds to the “threat”
This military deployment has strained Washington’s relationship with Colombia and its president, accused by Trump of being a “drug trafficker” and financially sanctioned accordingly. Petro has rejected the attacks on the boats, calling them “extrajudicial executions.”
However, the main pressure is exerted by Trump, whom he accuses of leading the Suns Cartel to export drugs to the United States. Maduro has denounced the “threat” of the US military presence near his coasts and assures that he responds to the White House’s desire to promote “a change of regime” and remove Chavismo from power.
The Venezuelan president has called on the population to prepare for an eventual “armed struggle” and has ordered the creation of defense commands made up of citizens, soldiers and public officials.
In addition, he also announced the deployment of 200,000 soldiers and the “mobilization of land, air, naval, river and missile means” to confront the United States.
Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado spoke on Wednesday of being in the “decisive hours” of “a historic moment,” without explicitly speaking about the US offensive but calling for a “peaceful transition” in Venezuela, further fueling rumors of a possible direct attack by the United States.
