US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Thursday the start of a US military operation to remove “narco-terrorists” from the Western Hemisphere.
In a message on
Hegseth did not specify exactly what he was referring to, although it can be inferred that he is naming and formalizing the campaign of extrajudicial US military strikes against suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and Pacific as part of pressure measures against the Venezuelan regime.
“Led by Joint Task Force Southern Spear and US Southern Command, this mission defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our hemisphere, and protects our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people. The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighbor and we will protect it,” he added in the message, without providing further details.
In January, the Pentagon announced the creation of Joint Task Force Southern Spear for the deployment of “surface ships and drones” with the task of, among other things, “conducting counter-narcotics operations.”
Hegseth’s announcement comes just three days after the aircraft carrier’s arrival Gerard Ford – the largest in the world and the most modern of the US fleet – in the area of responsibility of the US Southern Command in Latin America and the Caribbean. The ship and its escort group joined the flotilla already deployed in international waters on the border of Venezuela’s territorial waters.
His arrival had sparked speculation that Trump might order the start of a new phase of the military campaign, which could include direct attacks on targets inside Venezuelan territory.
On Thursday, Pentagon officials reported a new attack in the Caribbean on a suspected drug-carrying ship, which left four people dead. It is the 20th since the campaign of extrajudicial operations began in September. In these operations, the US military killed 80 civilians.
On Wednesday, Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine conducted the weekly intelligence briefing that the president of the United States receives every Wednesday. In it they presented Trump with the different options in the military campaign.
The US government insists that the goal of the campaign is the fight against drug trafficking, which kills tens of thousands of people in its territory every year. But numerous experts, and the president of Venezuela himself, Nicolás Maduro, believe that the real objective of the operation is to force a change of regime in the Caribbean country.
In a speech on CNN during a street appearance, the Venezuelan president sent a message to the American people, asking in Spanish: “Unite for the peace of the Americas. No more endless wars. No more unjust wars. No more Libya. No more Afghanistan.” When asked by the reporter if he had any direct message for Trump, Maduro replied: “yes, peace.”
Early Thursday morning, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, for his part, ruled out that the government would send military forces to Mexico or take “unilateral actions” in the context of the war on drug trafficking.
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