Illustrative image. (U.S. Navy photo by Cmdr. Michael W. Meredith/Released)
Venezuela has accused the United States of illegally boarding one of its fishing vessels in the country’s special economic zone.
Tensions between the two countries have been mounting since last month when the administration of President Donald Trump doubled the reward for the arrest of Venezuelan President Maduro to $50 million on drug trafficking charges then deployed a large naval force with more than 4,000 troops close to the country’s shores on a so-called “counter narco-terror operation”.
In a statement released on September 13, Venezuela’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said a vessel with nine “humble” and “harmless” fishermen was intercepted by the USS Jason Dunham, an Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyer, a day earlier.
“The warship deployed 18 armed agents who boarded and occupied the small, harmless boat for eight hours,” the statement said, calling the incident a “direct provocation through the illegal use of excessive military means”.
A U.S. official told ABC News later that Coast Guard personnel stationed aboard USS Jason Dunham searched the fishing vessel for drugs following a tip.
The official admitted that the force did not locate any contraband aboard the vessel. However, they disputed claims from Venezuela that the search took eight hours and they contended the boat was in international waters.
Earlier this month, a U.S. strike hit a speedboat in the Caribbean that Trump said belonged to Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang designated as a terrorist organization. The U.S. The president linked the gang to Maduro and said that 11 people were killed in the strike, which Caracas labelled an “extrajudicial killing” of civilians.
Two Venezuelan fighter jets later flew close to a U.S. warship, the USS Jason Dunham, in an apparent response to the deadly strike.
Venezuela’s Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello has already revealed that none of the people killed in the strike were members of Tren de Aragua, which is designated as a terrorist group by the U.S.
The fishing vessel incident now raises more doubts about the strike. If the Coast Guard boarded the vessel based on a tip that turned out to be false, then it is very likely that the intelligence that previously led to the strike on the speedboat was also faulty.
The U.S. is clearly eyeing a regime change in Venezuela, which has the world’s largest oil reserve. Several recent reports from U.S. media revealed that officials within the Trump administration believe that the U.S. is either using the counter narco-terror operation to encourage a coup in Caracas, or outright wants to impose one.
Venezuela is, of course, preparing for the worst. Just last week, Maduro ordered the activation of 284 “fronts of battle” across the country with a force made up from the military, police and civilian volunteers. He said that the mobilization, codenamed “Plan Independencia 200,” would keep Venezuela’s coastline free of “imperialists, invaders and violent groups.”
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the bastards, the pigs, the scum, the terrorists, the imperialists, the thieves and the robbers, the americans want to get their hands on and take venezuela’s oil for free. for this, they will not give up on crimes and genocide, no matter how many venezuelans die, the rest will be slaves to the americans.
they don’t want to “take venezuela’s oil for free”. they want to control venezuela’s oil because it is a strategic asset. the us is quite content to have venezuelans sit on it and pump it out under conditions determined by the americans. they would like it to operate like canada’s sludge pits.
the dogs the pigs the scum the queer.
american terrorists are killing and harassing venezuelans inside of venezuela’s territorial waters and in international waters, both of these actions are illegal! venezuela has the right to defend itself, now i just hope they have/get the means to do it!
right, yet another isolated country, sanctioned to beat the band and subject to internal cia machinations all day every day, is going to militarily keep the us at bay.
putin should offer trump a russian world for american world doctrine exchange no russian involvement in the american world no american involvement in the russian world. if he does not agree he should immediatelly start to arm venezuela and preper them for guerilla warfare. perhaps china could do something but no they are waiting until they are left alone to fend of the entire us controlled world at some point in the distant future.
these us ziopigs are definitely there because maduro has a very good relationship with iran and does business with them.
expected from us feminized americunt cowards–we will never try this w a superior russian or chinese vessel
amerikunts = thieving scum. end of story. almost as bad as the jooz who own them.
this the u.s.a. warmonger monsters! gulf of tonkin awaiting! i hope they have guts to invade venezuela… venezuela has more than 1 million really nationalist militia (yankees will fly like in the camp taji!)
trying to unmine venezuela authority in its own waters. china and keep sending hypersonic and advisors to venezuela along with a shield of s-400s and s-350s.