Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro said on Monday that the United States is seeking to oust him after President Donald Trump deployed the military to the Southern Caribbean to take on Latin American drug cartels.
Speaking to journalists, Maduro said that Venezuela must confront “the biggest threat that has been seen on our continent in the last 100 years,” adding, “They are seeking a regime change through military threat,” Fox News reported. The Venezuelan leader said that his country is “super prepared” to address any threats to its sovereignty.
“A situation like this has never been seen,” he added.
Last month, Trump directed the Pentagon to deploy U.S. troops and warships to address “threats to U.S. national security from specially designated narco-terrorist organizations in the region,” according to Reuters. The Trump administration has accused Maduro and his government of taking part in massive drug trafficking operations that smuggle narcotics into the United States. The government recently increased the bounty on Maduro to $50 million, citing his alleged ties to transnational gangs and drug cartels.
After President Trump took office in January, the State Department also designated the Venezuelan international criminal gang, Tren de Aragua (TdA), as a foreign terrorist organization. The State Department also recently added the Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles to the foreign terrorist list.
The United States recognized Maduro’s opponent, Edmundo González, as the rightful leader of Venezuela after the Maduro regime appeared to rig the 2024 election to keep the socialist leader in power. González was forced to flee to Spain after Venezuelan authorities announced that Maduro had won the election.
On August 18, three U.S. guided-missile destroyers headed to the Southern Caribbean near the Venezuelan coast, and a U.S. official told Reuters that around 4,000 sailors and Marines were also expected to be deployed to the region as part of Trump’s crackdown on drug cartels.
The president has made it a priority to stop the flow of deadly drugs, such as fentanyl, into the United States and take on drug cartels and criminal gangs — both inside and outside of the country. Trump said during his joint address to Congress in March that “the cartels are waging war on America, and it’s time for America to wage war on the cartels.”
The Trump administration also worked out deals with Mexico to bring incarcerated drug lords to U.S. soil, where they can face charges. Last week, former drug lord El Mayo — a co-founder of the powerful Mexican Sinaloa cartel — pleaded guilty to racketeering.
“Thanks to the relentless work of our prosecutors and our federal agents, El Mayo will spend the rest of his life behind bars. He will die in a U.S. federal prison where he belongs,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said. “His guilty plea brings us one step closer to achieving our goal of the elimination of the drug cartels and the transnational criminal organizations throughout this world that are flooding our country with drugs and human traffickers and homicides.”
While the United States has successfully extradited former drug lords from Mexico, the Mexican government opposes the United States deploying any troops to the country. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said last month, “That is ruled out, absolutely ruled out. It is not part of any agreement, far from it. When it has been brought up, we have always said no.”
.png)
.png)
