VENEZUELA’S dictator moaned the US wants to boot him out and install a “puppet government” – but vowed he is ready for “armed combat”.
Nicolas Maduro stared down Donald Trump’s declaration of war against the cartels, which the President insists are “poisoning” Americans with fentanyl and other drugs.
President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro has responded fiercely to Trump’s declaration of war[/caption]
US military aircraft at an airport in Puerto Rico last month[/caption]
Maduro vowed that Venezuela is ready for armed conflict[/caption]
Trump has accused tyrannical Maduro of being in bed with the “terrorist” narco-cartels – and he has given himself the right eliminate their members without trial.
Reports say the US is gearing up to seize ports and airfields in Venezuela
Furious Maduro complained on Friday that America is perpetrating “an armed aggression to impose regime change” and to “impose puppet governments”.
He previously said the US has “1,200 missiles pointed at our heads. They have a nuclear submarine.”
“There are eight destroyers in the Caribbean, that’s never been seen before,” he said.
But he yesterday swore Venezuela would rise to Trump’s challenge, and said he is ready to “move from unarmed combat to armed combat” if necessary.
Maduro thundered that any state challenging Venezuela would be “taught a lesson”, no matter how powerful they are.
Finally, he desperately protested his innocence of drugs trafficking, and claimed the US really just wants to steal Venezuela’s oil, gas and gold.
On Friday, President Trump formally declared that the US is engaged in a “non-international armed conflict” with the Venezuelan “terrorist organisation” cartels.
The move, revealed in a secret memo to Congress, gives Trump sweeping wartime powers to strike, kill and detain cartel fighters without trial.
Just hours after the war cry, the US army blasted another “narco boat” off the coast of Venezuela, killing four people.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the boat was “transporting substantial amounts of narcotics – headed to America to poison our people”.
Trump said: “A boat enough to kill 25 to 50 thousand people was stopped from entering American territory.”
It was the latest in a series of bombings on cartel boats, after three others were similarly destroyed last month.
In a further escalation, Trump won the right at the Supreme Court to strip deportation protections from 300,000 Venezuelans in America – opening the door for his administration to boot them out.
Trump has declared war on Venezuela’s cartels – giving the US the right to eliminate their members without trial[/caption]
Reports say the US is preparing to storm key ports and airports in Venezuela[/caption]
Meanwhile, the Pentagon has been building up a force in Puerto Rico with enough firepower to storm Venezuela – and reports suggest an invasion is being planned.
Off Venezuela’s coast sits a formidable armada: Navy warships and a submarine, ten F-35 Lightning II stealth jets, and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit — 2,200 Marines with Harrier jump jets, helicopters and armour.
This give the US planners enough firepower positioned to seize targets if the order is given, according to the Washington Examiner.
Special operations forces have rehearsed parachute and airfield-seizure drills in the Caribbean.
Venezuela has been mobilizing its civic defences[/caption]
The Pentagon hasn’t confirmed any invasion plans, but the posturing is far from covert.
The US argues that drug traffickers kill tens of thousands of Americans each year.
It insists that Venezuela’s criminal networks – including the notorious Tren de Aragua and the regime-linked Cartel de los Soles – act with state protection.
Trump has personally accused Maduro of “mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence and terror,” slapped a $50 million bounty on his head, and ordered US Southern Command to “take the fight to the narco-terrorists.”
Maduro, who has clung to power for over 12 years through his “transparent elections”, calls it a pretext for regime change.
He claims 2.5million troops are mobilised to resist “threats of bombs, death, and blackmail” and says the US wants Venezuela’s oil.
Last month, US forces carried out three lethal strikes on suspected narco-trafficking boats.
At least 17 people were killed, including 11 on September 2 and three more in a fiery September 15 blast.
