Venezuela mobilized war ships and drones to patrol the country’s coastline on Tuesday (8/26) local time. This was done after the United States sent three destroyers to the region to pressure President Nicolas Maduro.
In a video on social media, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino announced the “significant” drone mobilization as well as naval patrols along the Caribbean coast, including “larger ships in the north of our territorial waters.”
This step was taken amid the increase in tension with Washington, which sent three warships and 4,000 marines to Venezuela last week to eradicate drug trafficking.
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On Tuesday (27/8), a US source told AFP that US President Donald Trump would send two more warships to the Caribbean to eradicate drug cartels.
According to the source, a control ship explorer, USS Erie, and a nuclear -powered attacking submarine, USS Newport News, will arrive in the region next week.
Despite the dramatic increase in military power, analysts have reduced the possibility of US invasion or US attack on Venezuela.
Maduro has been the target of Trump since his first term as president in the country, from 2017 to 2021. However, Trump’s maximum pressure policy against Venezuela, including the valid oil embargo, failed to overthrow Maduro from power.
“I think what we see is an effort to create anxiety among the government and force Maduro to negotiate,” International Crisis Group analyst, Phil Gunson, told AFP.
Since returning to power in January, Trump’s attack on Venezuela mainly focused on the activity of strong transnational gangs in the South American country.
Washington accused Maduro of leading the cocaine trade cartel, Cartel de Los Soles, which by the Trump government had been designated as a terrorist organization.
The United States government recently doubled the prize to US $ 50 million in return for the arrest of Maduro to face drug demands.
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(ITA/ITA)
