Venezuela on Notice

"[Cartels] have engaged in historic violence and terror throughout our hemisphere -- and around the globe -- that has destabilized economies and internal security of countries but also flooded the United Sates with deadly drugs, violent criminals, and vicious gangs." 

"[The Defense Department would] undoubtedly play an important role toward meeting the president's objective to eliminate the ability of these cartels to threaten the territory, safety and security of the United States and its people." 

Sean Parnell, chief spokesman, U.S. Defense Department

Republican Senator Lindsay Graham has defended the strikes   Getty Images

 

"[While not a signatory to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, the American military's legal advisers have nonetheless stated that the U.S. should] act in a manner consistent with its provisions." 

"[Countries, under the convention are not to interfere with vessels in international waters, with limited exceptions, where a state is permitted to seize a ship ['hot pursuit'] chasing a vessel from a country's waters into the high seas]."

"Force can be used to stop a boat but generally this should be non-lethal measures. [The use of aggressive tactics must be] reasonable and necessary in self-defence where there is immediate threat of serious injury or loss of life of enforcement officials. [The U.S. moves were indubitably] unlawful  under the law of the sea."

Prof Luke Moffett, Queens University Belfast  

 

"The fact that U.S. officials describe the individuals killed by the US strike as narco-terrorists does not transform them into lawful military targets. The U.S. is not engaged in an armed conflict with Venezuela or the Tren de Aragua criminal organization."

"Not only does the strike appear to have violated the prohibition on the use of force, it also runs afoul of the right to life under international human rights law."

"[The use of force in this case could amount to an] extrajudicial arbitrary killing [and] a fundamental violation of human rights."

"Labelling everyone a terrorist does not make them a lawful target and enable states to side-step international law." 

Professor Michael Becker, Trinity College Dublin   

Donald Trump posted a video on social media which he said showed the moment of the strike           Donald Trump/Truth Social

On Tuesday, U.S. President Donald Trump revealed that American forces under his command carried out a strike that destroyed a vessel which he claimed had sailed from Venezuela on an illicit mission. The boat operated by the Tren de Aragia cartel, he contended, was carrying a shipment of drugs...destination United States. This, in relation to a strike that occurred by American forces on a boat sailing in the Caribbean Sea. That strike, according to the White House, killed 11 drug  traffickers whose deaths may have violated international human rights.

No details were available from U.S. defence officials respecting the strike. Footage of the strike was shared by Mr. Trump on Truth Social; legal authority relied upon to justify the strike was included in Trump's footage. "What we have seen so far suggests that the U.S. armed forces did something that it has never done, to our knowledge, in more than 35 years of military involvement in drug interdiction in the Caribbean Sea: an instant escalation to disproportionate lethal force against a civilian vessel without any apparent self-defence justification", stated the Washington Office of Latin America (WOLA), a non-governmental organization.

 

The U.S. action "violates the letter and spirit of more than a century of international standards and the United States's own regulations for maritime operations against civilian vessels in international waters", WOLA claimed. That was a kind of prelude, a warning shot across the bow of Venezuala's government led by Nicolas Madura. It has become clear of late that the Trump administration has been aggressive in raising tensions between Washington and the Venezuelan president. Grooming a situation that holds promise of developing into a direct kinetic confrontation.

 

American naval forces have been building a presence outside Venezuelan waters, while the administration increases its belligerent rhetoric on fighting drug cartels. Mr. Trump spoke of Maduro as a leader of a terrorist cartel, leading some to suspect whether the end goal is really to counter drug-smuggling at sea, or is equally ambitious on helping to stage a regime change conflict. 

 

Sr. Garcia  El Pais International

 

A still-secret directive was signed by Mr. Trump in July with instructions to the U.S. Defense Department to make use of military force against some Latin American drug cartels  his administration has labelled 'terrorist' organizations. Simultaneously the administration declared a Venezuelan criminal gang to be a terrorist organization, and that the Venezuelan president is its leader, as an illegitimate government led by a terrorist-drug-running enabler. 

 

In response to the U.S. Defense Department moving Navy assets, including warships into the southern Caribbean Sea, Mr. Maduro announced he was deploying 4.5 million militiamen around his country, vowing to "defend our seas, our skies and our lands" from American incursions. 

 

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has regularly clashed with the Trump administration   Getty

 

Three guided-missile destroyers are being deployed to the region. The warships have been tasked, according to U.S. officials, to target  boats operated by drug cartels transporting fentanyl to the United States. Additionally the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group that includes the U.S.S. San Antonio, the U.S.S. Iwo Jima and the U.S.S. Fort Lauderdale, carrying 4,500 sailors along with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, itself with 2,200 Marines are being deployed, according to Defense Department officials. Additionally several P-8 surveillance planes and a submarine are deploying to the region.

 

The warships are guided-missile destroyers, Arleigh Burke-class, equipped with over 90 missiles including surface-to-air missiles which can conduct anti-aircraft and anti-submarine warfare, and shoot down ballistic missiles. All this might and power to counter the drug-running boats of drug cartels.  

A few days back it was revealed by a CBS news report and confirmed by the Defense Department that two Venezuelan aircraft "flew near a U.S. Navy vessel in international waters." The Defense Department issued a statement to the effect that..."This highly provocative move was designed to interfere with our counter narco-terror operations. The cartel running Venezuela is strongly advised not to pursue any further effort to obstruct, deter or interfere with counter-narcotics and counter-terror operations carried out by the US military."

The US has moved additional warships into the Caribbean   Getty Images

Nicolas Maduro: "I Come From The People"

"[Venezuela sets a] dangerous precedent [for democracies in the hemisphere]."

"[Showing that] in the 21st century, an important country in Latin America can disregard the will and sovereignty of the people and remain in a de facto government."

Carolina Jimenez Sandoval, president, Washington Office on Latin America 

"Maduro has violated the Constitution, and the sovereign will of Venezuelans expressed on July 28." "He carried out a coup d’état and crowned himself a dictator."

Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González, in exile in Spain

"[With his inauguration] they decided to cross the red line [and] they stomp on our constitution."

"Today, Maduro did not put the presidential band on his chest, he put it on his ankle like a shackle that would tighten more every day."

Fellow opposition leader Maria Corina Machado

Nicolas Maduro on the day of his inauguration for a third six-year term at a military academy in Caracas, Venezuela on January 10.   Leonardo Fernandez Viloria/Reuters

The 'man of the people' who claims he represents the will of the ordinary Venezuelan in reclaiming the presidency of the country for a third six-year term Friday, is prepared to continue the authoritarian rule that he and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, imposed upon Venezuela, ruining its democratic nature, its economy, devastating its society, all the while claiming that their version of governance is what the people of Venezuela demanded of them, and continue to. Venezuelans who are so happy with their lot under this government that they've departed in massive numbers to find refuge elsewhere from the ruinous governance that has devastated their country.

The United States, along with a number of other countries, rejected the claim that the latest election was handily won by the sitting president, recognizing opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez as the true president-elect of Venezuela. Without so much as providing evidence of having won this latest sham of an election, Maduro claimed electoral victory. This election was a replay of previously fraudulent elections in the country. But for the first time the opposition was able to provide evidence of its own claim to victory.

Opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez was forced by Maduro to go into exile. Currently, there is no indication that it would be safe for him to return to Venezuela, much less take up his duly elected position as the country's new president. Maduro's government has threatened, should he return, to detain him, having issued a $200,000 reward for his arrest. During the months leading up to the election the military aided Maduro's campaign of fear and repression. Over 1,700 political figures were arrested and remain prisoners.

Maria Corina Machado, just prior to Maduro's inauguration to a new six-year term, revealed that she had been detained briefly by "the repressive forces of the regime", upon leaving an opposition rally in Caracas. Observers spoke of the election as representing the largest electoral fraud in recent Latin American history where voting centre receipts collected by the opposition and verified by the Washington Post along with independent election observers indicate clearly that Gonzalez likely beat Maduro in a landslide.

Gonzalez vows he will return to Venezuela. The Biden administration announced it plans to continue to place pressure on the Maduro government with new sanctions and other allied measures. The bounty offered for information leading to Maduro's arrest and conviction for U.S. indictments on conspiracy and narcotics charges increased from its current $15 million to $25 million. 

 

"I come from the people. The power I represent belongs to the people and I owe it to the people", Maduro said during his third-term inauguration.

Anti-government demonstrators shout slogans as supporters of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ride past on motorcycles during an opposition protest on the eve of Maduro's inauguration, in Caracas on Thursday.   Pedro Mattey/AFP/Getty Images