The possible telephone conversation between the president of the United States, Donald Trump, and Nicolás Maduro is already emerging as one more element in a scenario of growing tension in the Caribbean. As reported this Monday by the Axios media, citing sources from the US Administration, Trump has conveyed to his advisors his intention to hold a call with the Venezuelan president, although the contact remains “in the planning phase” and has no scheduled date.
The same sources describe a particularly delicate climate. An official involved in the contacts assured Axios: “No one plans to go in and shoot or kidnap him (Maduro), at this time. I wouldn’t say it will ever be like that, but that is not the plan at this time.” The phrase illustrates the level of friction between both governments.
The announcement comes the same day that the State Department confirmed the designation of the so-called Cartel of the Suns as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO). Washington maintains that this network, about which very little is officially known, is made up of high-ranking military officers and figures from the Venezuelan government and that Maduro and Diosdado Cabello have headed it for years. Caracas flatly rejects this thesis and considers that it is an “invention” intended to justify an intervention.
Maduro avoided commenting on this accusation during his weekly program Con Maduro+, broadcast on the state channel VTV, but defended that the country resists international pressure. “Whatever they do, how they do it, where they do it, they will not be able to defeat Venezuela. We are invincible. They have not and will never be able to defeat our country,” he stated. According to him, his Government receives support “everywhere” in the face of “snares, psychological, political, diplomatic wars.”
The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry accompanied these statements with a statement in which it called Washington’s decision a “vile lie”, reaffirmed that the Cartel of the Suns is a “non-existent” structure and accused the Trump Administration of reproducing a pattern of hostility with regional security implications.
Meanwhile, the situation in the Caribbean intensifies. Data from the FlightRadar24 platform confirmed that a B-52 bomber, two F/A-18 fighters and an E-2 early warning aircraft flew over the waters between Venezuela and Curacao this Monday, less than 70 kilometers away. The movement coincided with the US decision on the Cartel of the Suns and is part of the military deployment that began this summer, which Washington justifies as part of its anti-drug operations.
This climate of tension already has consequences on air traffic. Since the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) last Saturday urged “extreme caution” when flying over Venezuelan space, at least 22 flights have been canceled in Caracas and several international airlines have chosen to avoid the area. The FAA cited a “potentially dangerous situation” due to increased military activity.
The US Chief of Staff, Dan Caine, is also in the Caribbean this week. After visiting Puerto Rico this Monday, he will meet on Tuesday with the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, in an attempt to strengthen coordination with regional allies at a time of instability marked by escalation between Washington and Caracas.
