Donald Trump. Photo: Ted Shaffrey / AP / Profimedia
US President Donald Trump analyzes options for military attacks on drug cartels operating in Venezuela, including possible attacks inside the country, CNN said on Friday, citing more sources, according to Reuters.
An attack inside Venezuela would mark a dramatic escalation of tensions between the US and the South American country.
At the beginning of the week, the American army attacked a veneza craft in the south of the Caribbean Sea, in an event that resulted in 11 people. Trump said that the boat was carrying drugs and belonging to the Aragua train cartel, which “operates under the control of Nicolas Maduro”, the president of Venezuela.
The attack was just the beginning of a broader effort to combat drug trafficking in the region and, possibly, to remove the left president of Venezuela from power, CNN reported.
Neither the White House nor the Ministry of Communications in Venezuela responded to Reuters's requests to comment on the subject.
Trump has promised from the campaign actions against the groups he blames for the flow of drugs entering the US. Reuters sources revealed on Friday that Washington ordered the dislocation of 10 F-35 fighter jets on a Puerto Rico aerodrome for carrying out operations against drug cartels, and in the south of the Caribbean Sea there was already a strong American military presence.
Also on Friday, Maduro asked the United States to respect the sovereignty of Venezuela.
“The United States government should abandon its plan for violent regime change in Venezuela and throughout Latin and respect sovereignty, the right to peace, independence,” said the President of Caracas, which the head of the Pentagon, Pete Hegseth, had accused this week of being a “narcotic state.”
