Spanish
"Venezuela is a guarantee of security for the entire American continent," reiterated this Friday the president of that South American country, Nicolás Maduro, when explaining to police force students the defensive strategies that the nation has adopted to face the largest US military deployment in the Caribbean Sea in the last three decades, under the pretext of combating international drug trafficking.
"It is an threat of illegal imperialist aggression, in light of the United Nations Charter and international law; disproportionate, absolutely disproportionate –extravagant, I have said– and unnecessary, because Venezuela has not been, is not and will never be a threat to the U.S. On the contrary: Venezuela is not a threat, Venezuela is a guarantee of security for the entire American continent , Venezuela is hope, 'Venezuela is the hope'", he maintained.
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In that order, Maduro urged young aspirants to study "everything that has to do with the prolonged popular resistance and all forms of military, popular and police armed struggle", as well as in what corresponds to "the great permanent offensive of the homeland". "In every institution there must be a permanent offensive plan. We have activated it very strongly in these 22 weeks of illegal, disproportionate and unnecessary imperialist aggression", he pointed out.The US aggression in a nutshell
- Military deployment: since last August, the U.S. maintains a significant military force deployed off the coast of Venezuela, justifying it as part of the anti-drug fight. Washington announced later the 'Southern Spear' operation, with the official purpose of "eliminating narco-terrorists" from the Western Hemisphere and "protecting" the U.S. "from the drugs that are killing" its citizens.
- Lethal operations: as part of these operations, bombings have been carried out against alleged drug trafficking vessels , with a death toll of more than 70 people and without evidence that they were actually trafficking drugs.
- Accusations and reward: Washington has accused without presenting evidence the Venezuelan president, Nicolás Maduro, of leading a drug trafficking cartel and has doubled the reward for his capture.
- Caracas' stance: Maduro denounces that the real objective of the U.S. is a "regime change" to seize the immense oil and gas riches of Venezuela.
- Lack of support: the United Nations (UN) and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) itself point out that Venezuela is not a main route for drug trafficking to U.S. soil, as more than 80% of the drugs use the Pacific route.
- International condemnation: Russia, the High Commissioner of the UN for Human Rights and the Governments of Colombia, Mexico and Brazil have condemned the U.S. actions. Experts describe the attacks on vessels as "summary executions" that violate international law.
