Venezuela Sends 15,000 Troops to Border as US Warships Approach

Venezuela vowed to reinforce security along its border with Colombia as President Donald Trump’s administration sends US warships to the southern Caribbean.

Nicolas Maduro’s regime deployed 15,000 police and military officers to the border states of Zulia and Tachira, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said Monday at a press conference. The forces will be joined by an unspecified number of boats, aircraft and drones.

“The president has ordered this deployment to guarantee peace,” Cabello said. “If they want to enter through the border, they won’t be able to.”

Three US warships, carrying more than 4,000 sailors and Marines, are set to approach the region to counter drug cartels. Trump has rattled Latin American leaders by reportedly ordering the Defense Department to prepare for potential military operations.

MSN

 

[Hol]

 

[Hol]

France Reinforces Anti-Drug Military Operations in Caribbean​

France is a Caribbean country by way of preserving several territories in the sea. Paris sent its Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau to the island of Guadeloupe this weekend, part of a greater tour of the region that began on August 21, to address what French officials described as an eruption in violent crime tied to a growing volume of drug trafficking in the sea. The French announcement followed multiple reports of an increase in U.S. Navy activity in the southern Caribbean intended to curb cocaine trafficking linked to the socialist government of Venezuela, which the administration of President Donald Trump describes not as a legitimate state entity, but a narco-terrorist syndicate.

The Venezuelan government is deeply tied to cocaine trafficking through the Cartel de los Soles (“Cartel of the Suns”), an intercontinental drug-trafficking operation run through the apparatus of the Venezuela armed forces. The cartel is named for the sun medallions that Venezuelan soldiers wear on their uniforms. Organized crime experts and American government officials believe that the cartel is run by dictator Nicolás Maduro and top henchmen Diodado Cabello, the current minister of the interior, and Vladimir Padrino López, the minister of defense.

A 2023 report by the Miami Herald estimated that the Cartel de los Soles was trafficking over 350 metric tons of cocaine a year, valued at the time as worth between $6.2 billion and $8.7 billion.

The Maduro regime has enthusiastically rejected all evidence of its drug trafficking operations and its links to other nefarious terror groups such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a communist narco-terrorist gang, and the jihadist group Hezbollah. Maduro appeared on state television last week condemning the U.S. for deploying assets to fight drug trafficking, calling the drug problem an excuse to launch a ground invasion of Venezuela, and began operations to recruit soldiers to prepare for an alleged planned U.S. invasion.

France Reinforces Anti-Drug Military Operations in Caribbean

France announced a substantial investment in law enforcement and military activities in the Caribbean.

www.breitbart.com

 

[1LoverofGod]

***Related

Nicolas Maduro Says US Warships With 1,200 Missiles Targeting Venezuela
The United States, which accuses Maduro of heading a drug cartel, has announced a deployment of warships to the south Caribbean in what it labeled an anti-drug trafficking operation. It has made no invasion threat.

Yet Maduro railed at a meeting with international media in Caracas Monday against "the greatest threat that has been seen on our continent in the last 100 years" in the form of "eight military ships with 1,200 missiles and a submarine targeting Venezuela."

One of the ships, a guided missile cruiser, was spotted going through the Panama Canal from the Pacific to the Caribbean Friday night.

Maduro said that "in response to maximum military pressure, we have declared maximum readiness to defend Venezuela."

He said more than eight million Venezuelans have enlisted as reservists. Caracas has already announced increased patrols of its territorial waters.

More

Maduro says US warships with 1,200 missiles targeting Venezuela

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Monday that eight US military vessels with 1,200 missiles were targeting his country, which he declared to be in a state of "maximum readiness to defend" itself.

www.rfi.fr

 

[Hol]

One of the ships, a guided missile cruiser, was spotted going through the Panama Canal from the Pacific to the Caribbean Friday night.

Good for the US!

 

[mattfivefour]

He said more than eight million Venezuelans have enlisted as reservists.

I very much doubt that 28% of all Venezuelans have signed up in the military. However, I could be wrong because almost one quarter of that nation's GDP comes from illicit goods that include drugs, human trafficking and smuggling; therefore it is possible that many Venezuelans may support their federal government out of financial self interest.

 

[Andy C]

One of the ships, a guided missile cruiser, was spotted going through the Panama Canal from the Pacific to the Caribbean Friday night.

We are not going to attack their country, but possibly eliminate a few cartels or illicit drug making compounds. If we decide to strike, there’s not much their country could do to stop it. We have a very formidable force there.

 

[Andy C]

1 drug running vessel destroyed.

Trump announces US military conducted 'lethal strike' on Venezuelan drug boat in Caribbean

The U.S. military conducted a lethal strike against a Venezuelan drug vessel operated by a narco-terrorist organization, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed.

www.foxnews.com