Commentary
The United States is assembling a naval force and thousands of Marines off the coasts of Latin America and the Caribbean. They are authorized to use force against several drug cartels that are newly designated terrorist organizations. One of the “narco-terrorist” cartels, the Tren de Aragua gang, is from Venezuela. The Trump administration has also alleged that Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, “is one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world.”
Maduro looked the part when Venezuela responded to the United States blowing up an alleged drug boat with fighter jets that threatened a U.S. Navy destroyer on Sept. 4. The Pentagon issued a statement that read, “The cartel running Venezuela is strongly advised not to pursue any further effort to obstruct, deter, or interfere with counternarcotics and counterterrorism operations carried out by the U.S. military.”…