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“[…] If we agree with [US president Donald] Trump that the shipment of cocaine to the US is terrorism—as Opposition leaders implicitly do—then why did a transhipment area like Venezuela become a huge target, requiring the deployment of naval, air, and ground forces to nearby seas.
“The consensus among scholars and journalists who have researched the illicit drug trade in the Americas is that an estimated 90% of the cocaine arriving in the US passes through Eastern Pacific and Western Caribbean routes, not through Venezuela’s Eastern Caribbean seas. Shouldn’t Trump have concentrated his forces along those other routes to better fight his narco-terrorism threats?”
The following letter to the editor on United States’ claim that Venezuela is a ‘narco-terrorist’ state was submitted to Wired868 by Dr David Johnson of Maraval:
Also in the picture are (from left) White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarty and Vice President Mike Pence.
(Copyright AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Donald Trump, the president of the United States of America, is a serial liar. It’s a reputation established in no small measure through rigorous journalism from some of the finest newspapers in the world.
But this knowledge has brought no caution from leading members of the Opposition as they address Trinidad and Tobago’s international relations in connection with a fuel shipment. Like ‘MAGA’ followers of Trump, their preference has been to receive his word without challenge.
This is most apparent in their references to Venezuela as a home of narco-terrorism—a concoction crying out for definition and evidence. The Leader of the Opposition and Dr Roodal Moonilal have uncritically circulated this debunked invention of Trump and associates.
It is the case that the politico-economic crisis in Venezuela has presented more opportunities for drug-trafficking and other corruptions. But there is a tremendous leap from this observation to Trump’s charge that the country is run by a Maduro-led drug cartel intent on spreading terrorism to the USA.
That terrorism, according to Trump and associates, is a master plan of Maduro’s cartel and FARC to ‘weaponise’ cocaine by flooding and devastating American communities with supplies while a pandemic distracts the state. Announced with media fanfare amidst Trump’s Covid-19 incompetence, this novel understanding of terrorism left unanswered questions that have not detained the Opposition.
(Courtesy Baltimore Post)
Why was a long-running cocaine trade with the US suddenly categorised as terrorism? Furthermore, if we agree with Trump that the shipment of cocaine to the US is terrorism—as Opposition leaders implicitly do—then why did a transhipment area like Venezuela become a huge target, requiring the deployment of naval, air, and ground forces to nearby seas.
The consensus among scholars and journalists who have researched the illicit drug trade in the Americas is that an estimated 90% of the cocaine arriving in the US passes through Eastern Pacific and Western Caribbean routes, not through Venezuela’s Eastern Caribbean seas. Shouldn’t Trump have concentrated his forces along those other routes to better fight his narco-terrorism threats?
Shouldn’t countries like Guatemala also acquire narco-terrorism status? US bound cocaine transiting there is six times that of Venezuela.
The narco-terrorism charge is transparent propaganda in pursuit of regime change, and the military mobilisation that followed represents additional intimidation toward that end. It seems the extreme hardships of sanctions have not yet delivered the explosions desired, so there is need for Trump and associates to add more fuel onto a fire in Venezuela that will engulf us all as we remain silent.
The unsuccessful expedition of mercenaries led by former US special forces was just a warm up, and a farcical reminder of a dependance on proxy forces to help fight wars for the powerful.
(Copyright Reuters)
Mike Pompeo, Trump’s Secretary of State, said they will use ‘every tool’ available to protect their soldiers of fortune who ventured (and venture?) into the narco-terrorist state of Venezuela in pursuit of regime change.
The Opposition, as well as our local media, can help us all with more critical reflections on Trump and Pompeo’s Venezuela tales. No sanctions will be imposed on you for doing so, I think.
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