MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Miami Herald says US ready to strike Venezuela

Maduro insists the real target is to overthrow him, not to fight drug trafficking

According to Friday's issue of the Miami Herald, echoed by other US outlets, the Republican administration of President Donald Trump is ready to launch military strikes against Venezuela.

Trump has reportedly decided to attack various military targets in Venezuela “at any moment,” escalating a situation that began with an unprecedented military deployment in the Caribbean in August.

As per the Miami Herald, the established targets “could be reached by air in a matter of days or even hours,” with the explicit purpose of “decapitating” Venezuelan government leaders, who are accused of being heading a drug cartel and for whose capture there is a reward of up to US$50 million in the case of President Nicolás Maduro.

The Wall Street Journal cited officials saying the initial targets would be Venezuelan military installations, under the pretext of a supposed “anti-narcotics war.”

So far, over 60 people have been killed in US strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific waters allegedly targeting drug-carrying boats. The operations supporting these actions have already been labeled as “extrajudicial executions” by the United Nations (UN).

These potential actions are seen as confirming previous warnings by Maduro, who has long maintained that Washington's goal was never drug trafficking but to overthrow his regime and install a government favorable to the White House.

An anonymous source told the Miami Herald that the goal is to pressure Maduro, suggesting he is “about to find himself trapped and soon might discover that he cannot flee the country even if he decides to.” The same source claimed that “more than one general” in Venezuela would be willing to capture the Chavista leader.

This week, Venezuelan intelligence announced it had dismantled a CIA plan intended to create conflict between Venezuela and neighboring Trinidad and Tobago. This follows Trump's public admission of greenlighting covert CIA operations in Venezuelan territory.