“Tonight is the night of nights.” The phrase that the colonel Robert Sink dedicated to his airborne troops before jumping over Normandy it reverberates ever more strongly in the Valley of Caracas.
And the president of the United States, Donald Trumphas increased pressure on the regime Nicolas Maduro to its highest point since the great North American military deployment in the Caribbean Sea began.
This Saturday, the president warned all airlines that Venezuelan airspace is closed. A measure that is usually the first step for a military operation and that was received on the other side of the maritime trench as a threat to its sovereignty.
The message, published through its network Truth Socialwas as concise as it was forceful: “To all the airlines, pilots, drug dealers and human traffickers“We ask you to consider that the airspace over Venezuela and its surroundings will remain completely closed.”
Just a few words directed towards an interlocutor who must be attentive in Caracas. An interlocutor, Nicolas Madurowhom the US accuses of leading the drug trafficking group ‘Cartel of the Suns’, declared a terrorist organization by the White House.
That statement, made official this Monday, gives legal green light to Washington to launch legal operations.
It’s not just a rhetorical threat. Off the coast of Venezuela, the largest (and most expensive) US deployment in the Caribbean since 1991times of the Gulf War.
Nearly 12,000 troops led by the USS Gerald Fordthe largest and most advanced aircraft carrier in the world, await Trump’s orders. Along with that ship, 12 other Navy warships sail, including destroyers and amphibious ships.
The convoy is completed by strategic bombers, SH-60R helicopters, combat aircraft, fighters and support aircraft. US forces also have more than 700 missiles, in addition to about 180 long-range missiles Tomahawks.
“Colonial pretensions”
After Trump’s, undoubtedly, unprecedented message, Venezuela “absolutely” repudiated Trump’s words and criticized him for “unusually” trying to “give orders and threaten sovereignty“of this nation.
“This type of declaration constitutes a hostile, unilateral and arbitrary act, incompatible with the most basic principles of International Law and which is part of a permanent policy of aggression against our country, with colonial pretensions over our region of Latin America,” reads a statement from the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Yvan Gil.
Despite the echo that the words of the American president have had, The Venezuelan response took several hours and it was only broadcast on Telegram. The channel and the times represent a great change compared to the old Chavista policy of sending its propaganda through “media, networks and walls.”
It was a strategy that was highly effective on both sides of the Atlantic.
In his message, the Maduro regime He also denounced “before the world” that Trump’s words “represent an explicit threat of use of force”, which, he assures, is “clearly and unequivocally prohibited” by the Charter of the United Nations, and considered that it is an “attempt at intimidation.”
“Venezuela demands unrestricted respect for its airspace, protected under the rules of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO),” adds the Chavista note.
Finally, they called on the international community, the “sovereign governments of the world”, the United Nations and international organizations “to firmly reject this act” which they called “immoral.”
Failed conversations
This latest stage of the escalation of tension against Venezuela occurs a day after Trump assured that “very soon” he was going to launch actions against drug trafficking, the objective declared by the White House for this operation, on Venezuelan soil.
Since the beginning of the military deployment by sea, the US has bombed more than 20 boats and killed nearly 80 people under the argument of combating drug trafficking.
This Saturday, the newspaper Washington Post has reported that the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegsethgave the order to “kill all” the crew of the first boat attacked, on September 2, which they accused of transporting drugs.
The order came after the launch of a first missile, when two people survived on the skiff and were executed with a second attack.
The Chavista leader Nicolás Maduro,
Reuters
Also after the failed direct conversations between Maduro and Trump that, according to the New York Times, They also included the Secretary of State, Marco Rubio.
The talk took place “days before” the day in which the State Department designated the ‘Cartel of the Suns’ as a terrorist group.
Although the New York newspaper has not provided details of what the parties discussed, it is evident that they did not bear fruit.
A failure that has resulted in the closure of air traffic over Venezuela and in a country that is preparing for any operation on its soil. With all the unknowns that this implies.