Is Venezuela the great cocaine threat claiming that Trump claims to be? | Donald Trump News

President Donald Trump said this week that The United States had hit a boat In the Caribbean Sea region, which he claimed to belong Arajwa trainThe reputable organized crime gang, and drug trafficking was to the United States.

The Trump administration has long claimed that cocaine shipments from Venezuela feed the problem of an overdose of the United States.

Here is what happens between the United States and Venezuela, and what facts on the ground tell us:

What is the procedure that the United States is doing against Venezuelan drug cartridges?

The American attack on the Venezuelan boat came on Tuesday a few days after news reports were distributed US warships In Venezuelan waters.

Last month, the New York Times reported that Trump signed a secret direction that informs the Pentagon to use military force against some drug gangs in Latin America, which the United States has identified as foreign terrorist organizations.

Earlier in August, multiple news agencies stated that three devastating ships for the Agis -category were headed to the Caribbean Sea region, along with other warships to counter drug trafficking.

Reuters news agency, quoting two unknown persons who were informed of this publication, reported that USS San Antonio, USS Iwo Jima, and USS Fort Lauderdale were heading towards the Venezuelan coast, which holds 4,500 US service members, including 2,200 marine pedestrians.

The US Fleet Forces Command published a press statement on August 14, saying that the sailors and the marine infantry appointed to the Iwo Jima PMPhibious Ready group had left from Norfolk, Virginia and the Ligon camp, North Carolina. The version did not express the task details explicitly or specify the location of the group.

What happened in the US attack?

On his social position on Tuesday, Trump said 11 people considered “terrorists”, were killed in the strike. “Please leave this as a notification for anyone in order to consider bringing drugs to the United States of America,” Trump wrote.

The United States has not provided more details about the dead.

Salvador Santino Regem, Associate Professor at the University of Liden in the Netherlands, told the island that the deadly force in the maritime objection should be compatible with the right to life, law enforcement standards and proportionality standards.

“The United Nations Agreement (UNCROS and the Drug Trader Convention for 1988 in 1988 confirms the cooperation and mechanisms of ascension and approval at sea, and not a brief destruction. Any strike kills suspected travelers must lead to a rapid, independent and transparent investigation,” said the United Nations Agreement and Agreement in the sea, and not a brief destruction. Any strike kills suspected travelers that must lead to a rapid, independent and transparent investigation, “referring to the United Nations Law Convention at sea.

However, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio told the press after a meeting with Mexican President Claudia Shinbom on Wednesday that strikes on drug carriers are like one on Tuesday. You will continue. He added that the United States tried to intercept such boats, but this approach did not deter them. “What will stop them is when they explode,” said Rubio.

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Marcorubio September 4, 2025

How did Venezuela respond?

In response to the deployment of American warships, President Nicolas Maduro urged his supporters to join the militias to protect the country, saying: “No empire will touch the Holy Soil in Venezuela.”

One of these armed groups is the Bolivarian militia, which was named after Simon Bolivar, who was the leader of independence born in Caracas who liberated Venezuela in the modern era, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Panama and Bolivia from the Spanish Empire.

What does the United States accuse Venezuela?

The Trump administration claims Venezuela Left President It works directly with drug gangs and participates in cocaine trafficking. I Treen de Aragua accused of working as a “front” of the Maduro government. Trump A certain train from Arajoa As a “foreign terrorist organization” on its first day at the Oval Office on January 20.

In 2020, during the first period of Trump, Maduro was charged by a US federal court on charges of drugs, including drugs and conspiracy to import cocaine.

On August 7, the US Department of Justice and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs doubled a reward for the information that led to the arrest of Maduro to $ 50 million, accusing him of “one of the largest NARCO pioneers in the world.”

“Washington is framing the procedure as an anti-drug blow against Trin de Aragua and other” Narco-Terrorist “networks.

“The move also extends to a year-old coercive strategy towards the Maduro government, which belongs to American drug accusations in 2020, and it serves the goal of local correspondence-linking the foreign policy with solid edges by controlling drugs at home.”

Maduro was elected for a second term after winning the disputed elections last year. The United States has not had an official diplomatic relationship with Venezuela since 2019 and has not recognized the presidency of Maduro as legitimacy.

The United States also accused Maduro and his internal minister, justice and peace, Diosadado Capello, in cooperation with Cartel de Los Sols (Cartel of Sanz), which Washington also identified as a “terrorist” group. Like Maduro, Capello, a member of the ruling Socialist Party in Venezuela (PSUV).

In March, Trump protested in wartime 1798 Foreign enemies lawAllow him to detain people and deport them from “Nation or hostile government”. On the same day, the Trump administration was deported more than 230 Venezuelali, however To the maximum security El Salvador PrisonCECOT Center.

On Tuesday, the US Federal Court of Appeal ruled that Trump It cannot be used Law 1798 for the deportation of suspected gang members.

Are the Trump administration allegations against Venezuela true?

The Trump administration did not provide any evidence linking Maduro Petrin de Aragua or any other drug cartel, and the Venezuelan leader denied these allegations.

The American intelligence community also contradicts the Trump administration’s allegations that there are links between the Venezuelan government and Werin de Aragua.

Escop for a myopiene by the National Intelligence Council, which was repeatedly issued in April, stated that there is no evidence of coordination between Trin de Aragoa and any senior leaders in the Maduro administration, although it stated that the environment was lenient in Venezuela that allowed drug gangs to prosper.

The report was extracted from all 18 agencies that include the American intelligence community. All agencies, with the exception of the FBI, agreed to the results.

How much cocaine comes from Venezuela?

According to the global drug report, which was published by the United Nations Office of Pharmaceutical and Crime (UNDC) this year, cocaine global production reached a record in 2023, exceeding 3,708 tons-an increase of about a third of the year compared to the previous year.

The UNODC report shows that the majority of the Coca shrub, from which the cocaine was derived, was planted in Colombia, followed by Peru and Bolivia. The report also shows that most of the main roads of cocaine trafficking in 2023 and 2024 in the United States passed through Colombia, Peru and Ecuador, instead of Venezuela.

Regelmi said that Venezuela is using a “transit corridor” for some Colombian cocaine moving to the eastern Caribbean. “But the dominant maritime path for cocaine -related cocaine remains the east of the Pacific Ocean in Mexico and Central America, where the largest cases occur. Modern seizures emphasize this style.”

The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DeA) issued an annual cocaine report in 2024, which defined Colombia as a major source of cocaine that the United States seized. About 84 percent of the cocaine seized in the United States was found to be raised from the Colombian Coca. The report does not mention Venezuela.