In a show, but also in a launch on both sides, the president of , and his counterpart of , proceeded, as the tension in the Caribbean has been continuously rising lately and all sides appear to be preparing for every possible eventuality.
Show from Maduro
Images from Caracas of Maduro wearing a camouflage uniform at a rally while brandishing the sword of Venezuela’s liberation hero Simón Bolívar have gone viral.
In his speech during the apparently phantasmagoric rally, Maduro argued that defending the homeland “is a historic duty” and added that: “We must be able to defend every centimeter of this blessed land from any kind of imperialist threat or attack, wherever it comes from. I swear before our Lord Jesus Christ that I will give everything for the victory of Venezuela, to protect its sky, mountains and plains.”
Trump threats
For his part, Donald Trump in his statements, although he refrained from confirming that the goal of the deployment of American forces in the region is the overthrow of Nicolás Maduro, he argued – with the rhetoric of a movie – that “things can be done the easy way or the hard way”.
In his statements inside Air Force One, as he was heading to Florida, Trump, answering questions from reporters, said: “I’m not going to tell you what the target is. You should probably already know who he is. If we can save lives, if we can do things the easy way, fine. And if we have to do it the hard way, fine again.” The reference to the “easy way” is believed to allude to a possible contact between President Trump and Maduro, something that has long been discussed.
The official explanation
Officially, the massive deployment of US forces in the Caribbean Sea is part of the US effort to crack down on Latin American drug traffickers who are “flooding” the US with drugs. Washington has accused Maduro of leading a drug “cartel” – the Cartel de los Soles, which this week was even designated as a foreign terrorist organization. The interest in this case is that this organization, according to experts, does not actually exist.
