Venezuela Prepares to Defend Itself Amidst Growing Tensions with the United States
President Maduro announced on September 15 that the attacks had significantly harmed U.S.-Venezuelan communication (Wikimedia Commons).
After killing three people in a strike on a Venezuelan boat on September 15 in international waters, the United States escalated tensions over the crackdown on drug trafficking. These actions follow a similar attack on September 2, where the United States struck another boat and killed 11 people. President Donald Trump made remarks about a third previous attack as well, though details remain vague.
In August, the United States increased its military presence in Caribbean territorial waters. The deployment of eight ships, a nuclear-powered submarine, and over 4,500 troops aggravated tensions between the two states, soliciting a formal complaint from Venezuela at the United Nations of an “escalation of hostile actions and threats”. In response, Venezuela also announced the deployment of more warships on August 26. This deployment came as part of the ongoing “Operation Catatumbo Lightning”.
The attack on September 15 falls into the larger pattern of growing strain between the United States and Venezuela. Donald Trump claimed the attack targeted confirmed “narco-terrorists” and aimed to curtail the transportation of cocaine and fentanyl to the United States. The Drug Enforcement Administration also accused Caracas of working with drug cartels, an assertion the Venezuelan government denied.
Nicolás Maduro, the president of Venezuela, condemned the original September 2 attack as a violation of international law. He asserted that it constituted “a military attack on civilians who were not at war and were not militarily threatening any country.” United Nations rapporteurs similarly emphasized that international law only allows lethal force to be used in self-defense and prohibits the use of unilateral force in international waters and foreign territory to combat drug trafficking. Shortly after Maduro’s remarks, Donald Trump announced news of the September 15 attack.
In response to the most recent attack, Venezuela expanded military exercises in what the Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López described as “increasing operational readiness”. The new exercise, “Caribe Soberano 200,” involves the deployment of over 2,500 soldiers to the island of La Orchila. On September 18, Padrino released a video depicting the exercise, which showed planes, helicopters, ships, and tanks belonging to the Bolivarian National Armed Forces. He also announced that “In this special situation, we must redouble our efforts and increase our operational readiness for a scenario of armed conflict at sea. And we are doing so.”
The strain between the United States and Venezuela over fighting drug trafficking has damaged their relationship, with Maduro announcing communications with the United States were over. “Today, I can announce that communications with the United States are broken because of them, with their bomb threats, deaths, and blackmail. That is not how we operate, with threats and by bad means, and they know it. So they have gone from a period of poor relations and communications to a broken one,” he declared on September 15. These ominous words serve as a warning of potentially continued escalation ahead. In light of the United States’ additional growing tensions with Colombia and Mexico over drug trafficking, Venezuela-United States relations appear far from the path to recovery.