A MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle prepares to land after a mission in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Brian Ferguson)
The United States military on December 4 conducted another deadly strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, killing four.
In a statement, the U.S Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) said that the strike was carried out by the Joint Task Force Southern Spear at the direction of Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
“Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was carrying illicit narcotics and transiting along a known narco-trafficking route in the Eastern Pacific. Four male narco-terrorists aboard the vessel were killed,” the command added.
This was the 22nd alleged drug boat to be hit by SOUTHCOM since the U.S. military began its campaign against drug cartels in the Eastern Pacific and the Caribbean Sea last September. Including the last casualties, the campaign has so far claimed the lives of at least 83 people, all alleged drug traffickers.
The U.S. has been using this campaign to pressure Venezuela. Tensions between the two countries began to mount earlier in October, when the administration of President Donald Trump doubled the reward for the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to $50 million on drug trafficking charges.
Since then, the U.S. military has deployed a large naval force led by its latest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility.
U.S. media reports from the last few months indicate that the Trump administration is very much looking for a regime change in Caracas, possibly to tap into the country’s oil reserves which are the largest in the entire world.
Still, in recent weeks the diplomatic engagement between the U.S. and Venezuela saw an uptake, with Trump even phoning Maduro.
It became later known that Trump gave the Venezuelan president until November 30 to step down, and when the deadline passed, he took to Truth Social to declare that the airspace “ABOVE AND SURROUNDING” the Latin American country has been “CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.”
Trump remarks marked the start of a new round of escalation. Many airlines halted flights to Venezuela, but not much else has changed then.
Just a day before the latest strike in the Eastern Pacific, Trump said that his administration could attack accused drug traffickers who traverse Latin America by land “very soon,” a threat he made more than once in the past.
“We’re going to start doing those strikes on land, too,” Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting when asked about the administration’s strikes at sea. “You know, the land is much easier … And we know the routes they take. We know everything about them. We know where they live. We know where the bad ones live. And we’re going to start that very soon, too.”
Recent developments show that while the U.S. is not ready to de-escalate. At the same time, the Trump administration, though determined to remove Maduro from power, does not appear to be enthusiastic about a full-on military operation in Venezuela.
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now our patriotic drug traffickers are declaring trumps acts are a war crime against their boys attempts to repeat an opium war using coke as the substitute
venezuela may be a smuggling transport point for colombian and ecuadorian cartels, but has no practical need for the income. but the mossad run us government needs to sell the narco terrorism term to brainwash the american people. is this another false flag?
i think this is an attempt by the mossad / deep state rules based order to remove any american war, or speech laws that would prohibit mafia regime change / control operations. interrupting any rules of conduct
by the way, we noticed the “n”? boat is going southward __________ they must be recalling the coke
edit: wind goes direction 140 ____ i just checked, this cannot have been venezuela or colombia, maybe honduras, mexico or nicaragua ._________________ or fake!
some things that passed overlooked
venezuelan airspace cannot be “closed” just like it, you will need:
to control brazilian airspace
to control colombian airspace
radar control venezuela is hard because of the geography
whenever they issue a “notam”, that is valid only for the usa
when they enforce that on international airspace is called *piracy*
when they menace commercial flights then is called *terrorism*
stay classy…
the drug business is a mafia mainstay the mossad and cia have been involved in enabling it for decades. there is too much profit involved. any look at macro rubios family history reveals personal involvement. look at his position in the us government.
the us military rules of engagement of conducting warfare are now in political discussion. will they abandon the geneva convention publicly just like israel ?
the infection of mossad agents in the united states has completed a soft coup of the government and installed agents in all positions . why else would trump biden and many, many others bow so easily to israeli wishes at will ?
israel is openly allowed to spy on america. the cia is not permitted to spy on israel.
its a tradition since the founding fathers, bow for the devils. freemasons, or something else nasty. “israel” of today, are a perfect copy of north america since 1492.
does it reads in the geneva convention that you can send trick movie, for to attack seven countries ? everything, including russias comical references to international law, are purely academical. the “us” are the source to nazi germany, and have genocide 200 peoples. if “nuclear weapon” exist, russia should stop pretend it do anything good, and actually start doing it.
an amphibious landing in the age of fiber optic drones would be an absolute bloodbath.
americunt bullies cowards only attack unarmed fisherman