A part of the US naval deployment in the Caribbean targeting Venezuela. Photo: US Naval Institute.
Russia hopes that the United States will not take any measures that would destabilize the situation in Venezuela and the Caribbean, according to Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
“We hope that no measures will be taken that could lead to the destabilization of the situation in the Caribbean and around Venezuela, and that everything is done in accordance with international law, even though international law is currently in a lamentable state in many parts of the world,” he said on Friday, November 14, in reaction to the Pentagon’s announcement of Operation Southern Lance.
According to US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth, the mission is aimed at “eliminating narco-terrorists from our hemisphere and protecting our homeland from the drugs that are killing our people.”
The Kremlin’s reaction is the latest in a series of almost daily statements in the same vein from Russia, which may hint at Russia having intelligence of some imminent US military action against Venezuela.
US aggression against Venezuela
Since August, the United States has deployed a significant military force off the coast of Venezuela, consisting of warships, a nuclear submarine, fighter jets, and some 10,000 troops, under the guise of fighting against drug trafficking. Since then, the US military has killed over 70 people in several strikes on small boats in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
In addition, Washington has accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of leading a drug cartel that does not exist, without presenting any evidence to support the claim.
False pretext of combating drug trafficking
In response to the US accusations, Venezuelan authorities have condemned the military aggression. President Maduro has called Washington’s claims a smear campaign against his administration to “justify anything” against Venezuela. He asserted that this strategy seeks to tarnish the image of Venezuela and the Bolivarian Revolution in order to manufacture consent for aggression, something that the US “has done many times.”
The Venezuelan president has repeatedly explained that the US aggressions against Venezuela are aimed at “regime change” and seizing its immense natural resources.
International condemnations
The Venezuelan position has found support in the international community. Russian Foreign Affairs Minister Sergey Lavrov declared that the United States’ actions “will not lead to anything good.” Calling the strikes on boats killing their crews without “trial or due process” unacceptable, Lavrov noted that “this is how lawless countries act.” He also warned that the Trump administration’s policy “will not improve Washington’s reputation in the international community.”
The US military operations have also been condemned by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, as well as by the governments of Colombia, Mexico, and Brazil. International experts have called these attacks “summary executions” and “extrajudicial killings” that violate international law.
(RT)
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/SF
