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chairman donald trump in recent months monitor military attacks Against alleged “drug smuggling” boats off the coast of Venezuelaordered a military buildup in its coastal waters, accused its President Nicolas Maduro of being part of a drug cartel and, on Wednesday, Seized an oil tanker of the country,
What is their problem with Venezuela? And why does he seem intent on it drag America into war With the South American nation?
On any given day, Trump or his officials could blame Venezuela for sending too many migrants to the US, for sending migrants who are gang members, murderers or other criminals, or for trading valuable resources with America’s enemies.
Trump’s Attorney General Pam Bondi claims the tanker just seized off the coast of Venezuela was carrying oil destined for Iran. Venezuela has denied this and called Trump’s actions wrong. “An act of international piracy.”
immigration
Trump has often accused Venezuela of sending illegal immigrants to the US. During his 2024 re-election campaign, Trump regularly told his supporters that Venezuela was “opening up the prisons” and encouraging hardened criminals to cross into the US.
He also referenced immigration on Thursday when Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked him about his intentions regarding Venezuela.
“Now that we have seized this tanker, is the operation against Venezuela still just about drugs, or is it now also about oil?” Ducey asked.
Trump replied, “Well, it’s about a lot of things.” “But one thing about it is that they have allowed millions of people to come into our country from their prisons, from gangs, from drug dealers and from mental institutions.”
He then claimed that 12,000 murderers had entered the US and insisted that “many of them are from Venezuela.”
As much as he has spoken about his issues with Venezuelan immigrants, immigration is not the issue Trump has used to justify killing people in his recent attacks on what he calls “drug boats.”
drugs
Trump has accused Venezuela of smuggling drugs into the US and has used those accusations to justify deadly military operations against Venezuelan ships.
Earlier this autumn, Trump authorized military strikes on Venezuelan boats that his administration claims were used for drug smuggling. In one incident on 2 September, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered an attack on a boat carrying 11 people. According to the Washington Post report, Hegseth ordered a second attack to kill the survivors.
None of the people killed in Trump’s boat attacks have been proven guilty in court.
The president is not only accusing Venezuela of being a departure point for alleged drug smugglers, but also accusing the country’s President Maduro of being a top-level member of a drug cartel that ships drugs to the US.
Trump claims that Maduro is its leader “Sun Poster.” Cartel is a name given to military officers and other officials of the Venezuelan government who are corrupt and engage in drug trafficking. The term has been in use since at least the 1990s and does not necessarily describe a structured organization the way a typical drug cartel might be organized. Trump has not provided evidence that Maduro is involved in or leads drug traffickers in Venezuela.
On Thursday, the president told Ducey that drug trafficking by sea has declined, although their numbers appear suspiciously high.
The President claimed, “If you look at drug traffic, drug trafficking through the sea has reduced by 92%.” “And no one can figure out who the eight are, because I have no idea. Nobody involved right now is doing well. And we’ll start it on the ground as well. It’s going to start on the ground very soon.”
Although drugs may be the way Trump is justifying military action, what he really wants is not what Venezuela is leaving, but what lies beneath it.
natural resources
Venezuela is rich in oil and rare minerals. Both are extremely valuable items.
On Thursday, the White House confirmed it would seize the oil in the tanker it seized a day earlier.
In a statement reacting to the tanker incident, Caracas directly accused the US of trying to plunder Venezuela for its wealth.
The Venezuelan government said in a statement, “Under these circumstances, the real causes of the long-running aggression against Venezuela have finally been revealed… This has always been about our natural resources, our oil, our energy, resources that belong exclusively to the Venezuelan people.”
On Thursday, Trump imposed new sanctions on Maduro’s three nephews as well as six companies that ship oil out of the country. axios,
Toppling Maduro – or replacing him – could give the US leverage over future mineral deals with the country.
According to Maduro, Venezuela is sitting on $1.36 trillion worth of mineral wealth.
The US has already made its priorities clear elsewhere in the world; Earlier this year, the US reached an agreement with Ukraine allowing American entities preferential access to the country’s mineral reserves as partial repayment for assistance in its defense against Russia.