President Donald Trump’s almost casual statement regarding an attack on a facility in Venezuela, from which drug-laden ships are believed to have departed, was met with silence from Chavismo. The government of Nicolas Maduro has neither responded nor recognized what would constitute a new stage in the escalation of the conflict that the two countries have been experiencing since August. The consequences of the operation, which was reportedly launched on Christmas Eve, were also not discussed in Venezuela’s precarious media ecosystem. Washington’s feared first ground military attack went unnoticed.
Since the start of tensions linked to the American military deployment in the Caribbean, Venezuela has been cautious in its declarations and reactions. Venezuelan authorities have not responded to initial attacks on suspected drug boats leaving eastern Venezuela. A few weeks later, with more than 20 boats destroyed and 105 people murdered on the high seas, Chavismo made the condemnation of these operations its flag. He even approved a law to abandon the Rome Statute, in rejection of the International Criminal Court’s inaction in these cases.
The United States increased the pressure. After his naval deployment, he destroyed ships; then to the constant prowl of combat planes which forced commercial aviation to leave Venezuelan airspace; Finally, Trump ordered the US-sanctioned seizure of the tankers with the intention of drying up the regime’s resources. Last weekend, the White House increased the number of troops at its base in Puerto Rico.
The New York Times revealed a few days ago that the Trump administration had already discussed “phase two” of its campaign against Venezuela: ground operations with elite Delta Force units. Regarding the destruction of the facility on Christmas Eve, several senior U.S. officials supported Trump’s statements and confirmed to the media that the plant attacked was a drug trafficking facility, but did not provide further information.
The main drug trafficking enclaves in Venezuela are in the west of the country, in the state of Zulia, and in the south, in the state of Apure, where the Colombian ELN guerrillas control part of the territory and trade, including the cultivation of coca leaves, according to recent investigations by Insightful crime. Eastern Venezuela, where the first ship destroyed by the United States sailed, is a common departure port for drugs to the Caribbean.
In October, Maduro approved a state of emergency due to external unrest that would be activated in the event the United States carried out an attack on national territory. This scenario which, according to Trump, would involve a restriction of constitutional guarantees and the massive deployment of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, which have accumulated weeks of training and exercises since the start of hostilities. This would also activate the “armed struggle” to which the leader of Chavismo has insistently called his supporters.
The government has articulated the so-called people-police-military fusion as part of its defensive system, with the aim of defending against internal and external enemies and maintaining the functioning of the country in key service infrastructure. In addition, they have provided weapons training to civilians and claim to have a reserve force of 4.5 million militia, a component of the armed force made up of militants and civil servants. These also have community social surveillance tasks to detect activities that, according to Chavismo, can be considered a threat to national sovereignty.
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