SOUTHCOM commander Laura Richardson. File photo.
On October 29, the United States appointed its first woman as head of the Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), Laura Richardson, who landed this Tuesday, November 16, in Colombia as part of her first tour of the region.
During her visit to Colombia, Laura Richardson will meet with Colombian Armed Forces commanders, with whom she will discuss “security issues” between the two nations. They plan to discuss drug trafficking and Venezuelan migration, according to reports—both euphemisms for “regime”-change operations against Venezuela.
It is worth recalling that in recent years the Southern Command’s agenda in Colombia has been focused on interventionist operations against Venezuela and its government.
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The four-star general planned a meeting with the Colombian Defense Minister, Diego Molano, an active and very diligent anti-Venezuelan asset, and in the next few days she will visit the giant Tolemaida Military Base in Cundinamarca, one of seven US military bases in its quasi-colony of Colombia.
Days before the arrival of the SOUTHCOM commander, the Colombian minister stressed that her visit is “vital for Colombia.” Venezuelan Minister for Defense Vladimir Padrino, meanwhile, noted that Colombian authorities fabricate tension around Venezuela to sponge money from the United States.
Interventionist plans of the Southern Command in Venezuela
SOUTHCOM belongs to one of the 10 units of the US Armed Forces and its objective is to “defend the interests” of the US in South America, Central America, and the Caribbean. SOUTCHOM is activated against any entity considered a threat by the US. All too often, this means it has been used to carry out “regime”-change operations.
This has been revealed by studies, one of them carried out by historians from Harvard University, which detailed that on 41 occasions between 1898 and 1994, the United States helped force a change of government in Latin American countries.
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The US has tried to implement this same plan in Venezuela, with the help of Colombia, without success. Outgoing SOUTHCOM leader Admiral Craig Faller was quite clear about the organization’s interventionist agenda.
Faller insisted that his primary focus was on “putting diplomatic and economic pressure to accelerate the transition” of the Venezuelan government.
During his tenure in the Southern Command he led visits to border countries, and military operations that approached Venezuelan coasts to threaten the sovereignty of Venezuela.
Now, with this new visit by the SOUTHCOM to Colombia, we only have to wait and see how Laura Richardson will direct policy against Venezuela, a policy likely to continue clashing with the resolve of Venezuelan Chavistas unwilling to concede a single iota of sovereignty to the decadent imperialist power to their north.
Featured image: New SOUTHCOM commander Laura Richardson. File photo.
(RedRadioVE) by Ana Perdigón, with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/JRE/SL
