The coming war

It appears that it is more a question of “when”, rather than “if”, the United States (US) will launch a strike against Venezuela in its “War against Drugs”, focusing on Venezuela’s “Cartel of the Suns”. It has inexorably moved formidable military resources in place in the Southern Caribbean Sea within Venezuela’s EEZ. There are eight warships with 4,500 troops on amphibious vessels with Harrier fighter aircraft. Last Friday, NBC quoted four sources who asserted that drone strikes from the US flotilla will be launched “within weeks” against targets in Venezuela that have been identified as drug labs and drug trafficking groups’ members and leadership. NBC sources would have been talking about the Venezuelan “Cartel of the Suns” operation.
In July, the US Department of the Treasury’s OFAC announced they had “sanctioned the Cartel of the Suns as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist. It is a Venezuela-based criminal group headed by Nicolas Maduro Moros and other high-ranking Venezuelan individuals in the Maduro regime that provides material support to foreign terrorist organisations threatening the peace and security of the United States, namely Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel.”
In August, as the flotilla was being assembled, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio explained the target of the operation: “Cartel of the Suns, the Cartel de los Soles, which is a criminal organisation that happens to masquerade as a Government. The Maduro regime is not…a legitimate Government. They are a criminal enterprise that basically has taken control of a national territory, of a country, and who, by the way, are also threatening U.S. oil companies that are operating lawfully in Guyana.” That “by the way” is the security blanket bought by Janet Jagan in 1999 as Chavez was securing power in Venezuela, when she assigned the Stabroek Block to Exxon.
Asked then if the new operation might include the landing of troops on Venezuelan shores, White House press secretary Katerine Leavitt had replied very open-endedly that the US was considering “using all its power” to stem the flow of drugs from Venezuela to the United States. Maduro immediately mobilised the Venezuelan military machine, including 4.5 armed militia. This week, responding to NBC questions, the White House reiterated a previous statement from Trump: “We’ll see what happens. Venezuela is sending us their gang members, their drug dealers and drugs. It’s not acceptable.”
Guyana was the first in the region to throw its support behind the US initiative, albeit in measured diplomatic language: “Guyana reaffirms its support for a collaborative and integrated approach to tackle transnational organised crime. We are committed to working with our bilateral partners to find meaningful solutions and will support regional and global initiatives aimed at dismantling criminal networks to safeguard our shared security.”
In T&T, PM Kamla Bissessar was more forthcoming in supporting the US action. “Due to drug, human and firearms trafficking, Caribbean countries, and in particular T&T, have experienced massive spikes in crime, gang activity, murders, violence and financial crimes.” Referring to Maduro’s threats against Guyana, she elaborated: “I want to make it very clear that if the Maduro regime launches any attack against the Guyanese people or invades Guyanese territory and a request is made by the American Government for access to Trinidadian territory to defend the people of Guyana, my Government will unflinchingly provide them that access.” The Maduro regime immediately warned Guyana and T&T of “consequences” for supporting any US action.
At the annual UNGA gathering of world leaders, President Ali declared that Venezuela has “persisted with unilateral laws and threats of annexation, flagrantly violating international law, the UN Charter, and the very principles that sustain global order… (but) we will not cower to coercion, intimidation, or unilateral action.” T&T’s Persaud bluntly took on Maduro’s St Vincent ALBA ally Ralph Gonzales, who criticised the US military build-up as “a unilateral militarisation”. He and Barbados’ PM Mia Mottley spoke sanctimoniously about the Caribbean being a “zone of peace”, even as Venezuela has pursued its hybrid war against us – including attacks on our GDF by Sindicatos.
PM Persaud again did not attempt to speak from both sides of her mouth: “President Trump’s comments on the effects on countries of relentless narco and human trafficking and about organised crime and illegal immigration are correct… The notion that the Caribbean is a Zone of Peace has become a false ideal. The reality is stark – no such peace exists today.”
Guyana must be prepared for the coming kinetic war.