US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Thursday the start of a US military operation to “expel narco-terrorists” from the Western Hemisphere.
In a message on the old Twitter site Hegseth did not specify what exactly he was referring to. If it is just a matter of giving a name to the campaign of extrajudicial military attacks against alleged drug boats carried out by its forces in the Caribbean and the Pacific, or if a new phase has begun.
“This mission, led by Joint Task Force Lanza del Sur and Southern Command, defends our homeland, expels narco-terrorists from our hemisphere, and protects our homeland from the drugs that are killing our people. The Western Hemisphere is the region adjacent to the United States, and we will protect it,” he stressed, without giving further details.
Hegseth’s announcement comes just three days after the arrival of the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford, the largest in the world and the newest in the US fleet, to the US Southern Command area of responsibility in Latin America and the Caribbean. The ship and its accompanying group join the fleet already deployed in international waters bordering Venezuela’s territorial waters.
His arrival has precipitated speculation that Trump may order the start of a new phase in the US military campaign against alleged drug cartels in the Caribbean and Pacific, which could include direct attacks against targets on Venezuelan territory.
Pentagon officials on Thursday announced a new attack in the Caribbean against an alleged drug boat. This is the twentieth anniversary since the start of the extrajudicial operations campaign last September. The American army killed 80 civilians.
On Wednesday, Hegseth and Chief of Staff Dan Keane chaired the weekly intelligence briefing that the US President receives every Wednesday. In it, they explained to Trump the different options in the military campaign.
The US government insists that the goal of the campaign is to combat drug trafficking, which kills tens of thousands of people on its soil every year. But many experts, and the President of Venezuela himself, Nicolas Maduro, consider that the real goal of the operation is to impose regime change in the Caribbean country.
In statements to CNN during a street intervention, the Venezuelan president sent a message to the American people: “Let us unite for peace on the continent. No more endless wars. No more unjust wars. No more Libya, no more Afghanistan.” When the journalist asked him if he had any direct message to send to Trump, Maduro replied: “Yes, peace.”
(Breaking news. There will be an update soon)
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