The White House’s Perceived Authority to Attack Venezuela Officially Begins
With the terrorist designations taking effect and reporting indicating a revised strategy, attacks on Venezuela are all but imminent
On Sunday, Reuters reported that the US is launching a “new phase of Venezuela operations.” The report comes just one day before the designations take effect of Nicolas Maduro as a terrorist and the mythical Cartel de los Soles as a terrorist group, which the US alleges Maduro is the leader of. The timing is the next logical step for a White House hell-bent on attacking Venezuela under the wholly invented pretext of Maduro being linked to drug trafficking networks to conceal its true motivations: US corporate greed and extraction of resources to feed it.
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While the US media has to lead each story with a reminder that the USS Gerald R. Ford is the largest aircraft carrier in the US fleet and is present in the Caribbean, the military buildup in the region, and the troops in Trinidad and Tobago, just seven miles off Venezuela’s coast, has many countries in Latin America paying attention and wondering if they’re next. Those fears stem from the propaganda out of the White House, targeting Colombia and pressuring other countries to pick a side, and Maria Corina Machado, who claims she is going to “liberate” Cuba next.
Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío Domínguez took to social media on Saturday to warn about the dangers of the US military buildup in the Caribbean.
“The danger of military and terrorist aggression against Venezuela is growing, with the aim of violently overthrowing the government of that sister nation. A US coup against Our America and its long road to independence,” Fernández de Cossío said.
After the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned airlines of a “potentially hazardous situation” on Friday, six airlines cancelled flights to the country, another sign that strikes could be imminent. Spain’s Iberia, Portugal’s TAP, Chile’s LATAM, Colombia’s Avianca, Brazil’s GOL, and Trinidad and Tobago’s Caribbean have suspended their flights to the country, according to the Venezuelan Airlines Association (ALAV).
These pressure campaigns have so far amounted to psychological warfare and the killing of civilians from various countries under the guise of fighting drug trafficking. It should be noted that none of the boats targeted so far can make the 1800-mile trek from South America to the United States. And despite Trump’s claims of fighting against fentanyl, the drug typically doesn’t come from South America, but Central America.
According to the White House, the terrorism designations against Maduro and Cartel de los Soles authorize it to strike inside Venezuela. However, legal experts dispute this. The US Constitution grants Congress the power to declare war. Many also argue that the existing legal frameworks for using military force, such as the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), do not extend to drug cartels operating from within a sovereign state with which the US is not at war.
A Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) designation typically only allows the US government to target a group’s financial networks and impose travel restrictions to the US by blocking the issuance of visas. The official FTO list prepared by the Congressional Research Service states that FTO designations are for “the purpose of imposing financial sanctions, immigration restrictions, or other penalties in pursuit of law enforcement or national security goals,” not military strikes.
As Latin American and European nations denounce the US’s actions, along with the United Nations and much of the world, the White House is dismissive about international law, US law, and the sovereignty of any nation with a leader who doesn’t bend enough to the will of US corporate interests. Time and again, the narrative is the same: US corporate interests outweigh the importance of human life. The only things that change are the targets.
Watch Marlon Weems and me discuss Machado’s true intentions and other important topics. The post has links to much of my reporting on Venezuela.
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“The only things that change are the targets.” - hit me hard. This is just the beginning, isn’t it? Dictators are the only leaders who ignore allies, the UN, and the citizens, as well as international law, to take what they want.
This is all just so wrong. Humanist needs to be returned to the White House.
Hi Arturo, Walter Rhein sent me your way and I'm so glad he did--this is a great read. I co-host a daily podcast called The Daily Whatever Show (with my BFF Lawrence Winnerman), and we'd love to have you on to talk about this story (and whatever other ones you'd like to talk about). If you're interested, please feel free to DM me and we can figure out a date that works. Thanks in advance, and I'm looking forward to reading more!