President Donald Trump euphorically concluded his White House press conference on September 2 with breaking news: the US military had just blown up a small motor vessel in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. He alleged that the skiff came from Venezuela and was loaded with illicit drugs headed to the US.
By Roger D. Harris and Joe Emersberger
On social media, he further embellished his storyby sayingthat the crew were members of the Tren de Aragua cartel, which Trump claims is controlled by Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro. Trump alleges that this cartel is responsible for mass murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence across the US.
Evidence blown out of the water
There was no attempt to stop and search the boat in international waters, before murdering the crew. This gruesomepracticearrogates to the US state the extrajudicial power to kill anyone with whom it unilaterally declares itself to be at war.
The eleven victims are just a drop in the imperial blood bucket compared to the US-sponsored genocide in Gaza. But the homicidal victory was used by US Secretary of State Marco Rubio tocrowabout the full power of America, the full might of the United States.
Madurorespondedthat no one believes Trumps and Rubios lies: they come for Venezuelan oil and gas, they want them for free.
The day before the incident, Maduro presciently warned that the US couldcreate a false positiveto justify the US military deployment. Claims have circulated that the incidentmay have been fakedby AI. If true, thats not much of a relief. It simply means Trumps military escalation against Venezuela has begun at a lower level than he claims.
Maduro alluded to the fabricated Gulf of Tonkin incident and the explosion of the Maine, which precipitated the 1964 Vietnam and the 1898 Spanish-American War, respectively. Maduro also mentioned the WMD hoax that was used to justify the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.
Maduro might also have noted that President Bill Clinton bombed Sudan,diverting attentionfrom his Monica Lewinsky sex scandal. Trump is now facing similar difficulties due to his close friendship with the deceased pedophileJeffrey Epstein
A decapitation strike attempt on Venezuela foretold
All the elements, especially US impunity, are in place to eventually attempt a decapitation strike eliminating the South American nations leadership.
Trump ominouslyboastedat his press conference there is more where that came from for Venezuela. Just four days earlier, Washingtonshistoric partnerIsrael had assassinated the Yemeni prime minister and his civilian cabinet. Arguably, the word partner understates the intimate level of integration between the two. The Israelis have been perpetrating a live-streamed genocide in Gaza for over 700 days while receivingdaily airliftsof military supplies under both Biden and Trump.
Decapitation of an enemys leadership has become a tactic for the partners. Aside from Yemen, the Israelis launched a devastating decapitation strike on Hezbollah in Lebanon along with a similarly brazen one of top Iranian leaders during its twelve-day war with Tehran. In 2020, Trump murdered Iranian General Qassem Soleimani with a drone.
Trump signed an executive order designating drug cartels asforeign terrorist organizationsthe day he returned to the presidency. USmilitary were deployedto the Caribbean near Venezuela under the ruse of drug interdiction. Shortly afterwards, The New York Timesreported a leakedsecret orderauthorizing the use of the US military to intervene in other countries against drug cartels.
Also in August, the reward on the head of Maduro was doubled to $50 million with lesser rewards for other top officials. US sanctions now extend to the heads of the state oil and transportation companies, supreme court justices, electoral councilors, national assembly politicians, various military and security heads, and so forth; in short, a leadership hit list.
Trump doesnt actually care about the USs illegal drug problem
The US is indeed flooded with drugs, but Trumps concern is insincere. Otherwise, he would have mobilized against trafficking within the US and close allies likeEcuador. Instead Trump diverts public attention by scapegoating Venezuela, a country that contributes to the problem negligibly.
Illicit drug sales in the US areestimatedat $200$750 billion, including new synthetics. Remarkably, the only other domestic commodity that comes close in volume is legal pharmaceuticals at $600 billion, followed by oil and gas at $400 billion. Indeed, the US is thelargest consumerof illegal drugs and a majorsupplier of weaponsanddrug precursor chemicalsfor the cartels. As the worlds leading narcoticsmoney launderer, prominent US banks implicated include HSBC Bank USA, Wachovia, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America.
We constantly hear about Latin American drug kingpins, butwho distributes the dope when it crosses the borderis left unanswered. Research by Mexican journalist Jorge Esquiveldemonstratesthat no US administration has ever seriously investigated domestic drug trafficking networks. Venezuelan international analyst Sergio GelfensteinassertsWashington has no interest whatsoever in combating the drug trade; it is just too big and profitable.
Besides, drug usage serves to pacify youth, African Americans, and other potentially dissident demographics. Journalist Gary Webbexposedhow drug trafficking on the streets of Los Angeles in the 1980s helped fund the CIA-backed Contras in Nicaragua. And opium production was virtually eradicated in Afghanistan before the US invasion of 2001, only toexplodeagain under direct US military occupation.
Fake threat of Venezuelan drug trafficking
What theUS really seeks is regime changeand regional control, thinly veiled behind drug war rhetoric, according to The Cradle.
The authoritative 2025 UNWorld Drug Reportfeatured minimal mention of Venezuela, emphasizing that it plays a marginal role in global drug trafficking. The report confirms that Venezuela is a territory largely free of drug cultivation and processing, as well as any significant international cartel presence. Nor does the report mention the fictitious Cartel of the Suns, which the US claims Maduro heads.
Despite the Tren de Araguas designation by the US as aterrorist organization, the intelligence community itselfrefutesthat it is controlled by Maduro or is even a highly functioning international narcotics cartel.
The guard rails are down for imperialist aggression
Democrats may carp about the optics of Trumps actions, but they have been bipartisan partners in opposition to the Bolivarian Revolutions attempt to build socialism in the 21st century ever since Hugo Chvez was first elected Venezuelas president in 1998. Note, every US Senatorvoted to confirmMarco Rubio as Trumps Secretary of State.
The so-called international community and its institutions such as the United Nations have been powerless to stop the US/zionist war on Palestine let alone one in Uncle Sams backyard. Welcome to thepost-Gaza genocideworld.
And lets not forget the perfidy of big human rights NGOs like Amnesty International, which absurdly and hystericallyallegesthat the Venezuelan governments cruelty knows no bounds, nicely timed to justify US imperialism.
The US aggression on Venezuela is clearly escalating from funding of opposition elements, lawfare, and sanctions, plus occasional coup attempts and sabotage. Now, direct military confrontation is possible, which could involve an attempt to assassinate the entire Bolivarian leadership.
The reported4,500 US troopsrecently deployed to the Caribbean could never take Venezuela even if they were multiplied manyfold. But recent history suggests that the US often avoids a full US troop-heavy occupation. In Haiti, Libya, and Syria, the US instead opted for chaos rather than permitting insubordinate states to survive.
Resistance by Venezuela hasstiffenedto meet the challenge. Civilian-military unity has remained strong. Thisvideo clipshows artisanal fishing boats accompanying one of the mobilized Venezuelan naval ships. Shortly before the US destroyed the alleged drug boat, President Maduro had declared a "republic in arms." And millions of civilian reservists have enlisted in the Bolivarian National Militia, a branch of the Venezuelan armed forces, while regular troops have been dispatched to the Colombian border.
Many regional leadersalong with the regionalALBAorganization have condemned the US military buildup. Further afield, Russia, Iran, and China all stated their support of Venezuela. And international grassroots support for Venezuelas sovereignty has been overwhelmingly positive, condemning Yankeewarfare.
For humanity,Venezuelas Bolivarian Revolution represents hope; for the US imperial project, which seeks to crush any alternative to its order, it is a threat. To force regime change in Caracas, Washington may attempt to eliminate the current leadership or pursue another tactic. The method matters less than the goal either installing a compliant vassal or, failing that, leaving the country in chaos. The pressure will therefore continue, and likely intensify.
Roger D. Harrisis a founding member of theVenezuela Solidarity Networkand on the secretariat of theUS Peace Council.Joe Emersbergeris co-author of "Extraordinary Threat: The US Empire, the Media, and Twenty Years of Coup Attempts in Venezuela.
Pressenza New York
