US President Donald Trump has said land operations against the alleged Venezuelan drug cartel would commence shortly amid rising tensions between Washington and Caracas.
Trump has constantly threatened military action against Venezuela since he deployed a small naval fleet to Caribbean waters back in September. The operations to curb the Venezuelan drug trafficking over land would begin very soon, he said.
The latest warning comes amid escalating tensions with Caracas and with the military stepping up its operations in the Caribbean as part of what Washington says are efforts to stop transnational crime and drug smuggling. In response, Venezuela has accused the United States of coercively trying to topple the regime in the country by removing Nicolas Maduro from power.
Washington does not recognise the legitimacy of the Maduro government, while accusing him of being the leader of the dreaded Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Sun), committing organised crimes.
Maduro has rejected the allegations by saying, “The United States wants control of our vast resources of the country, and for that reason, they are seeking an excuse to invade Caracas.”
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Meanwhile, on anti-drug operations, Trump said, "We've almost stopped—it's about 85 per cent stopped by sea." “We will target them by land; the land operations are easier, but they are going to start very soon,” he said.
The US Navy has carried out multiple strikes on boats in international waters in the Caribbean and the Pacific. These boats, according to US forces stationed near Venezuela and Colombia, were carrying illegal narcotics into the country. So far, no evidence supporting such claims has been provided by the US forces. As many as 83 people have been killed in those strikes, according to official stats.
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