Venezuela announced the deployment of 15,000 troops to its border with Colombia to combat drug trafficking. President Nicolas Maduro urged citizens to join militias, declaring, "No empire will touch the sacred soil of Venezuela." The United States has publicly accused Maduro of involvement in cocaine trafficking and doubled the reward for information leading to his arrest to $50 million. US naval vessels have been sent to the southern Caribbean, with US officials framing missions as countering narco-terrorist threats to national security. Reports indicate a secret US directive authorized use of military force against certain Latin American drug cartels.
The Trump administration has accused Venezuela's left-wing President Nicolas Maduro of being involved in cocaine trafficking and working with drug cartels. On August 7, the US Departments of State and Justice doubled the reward for information leading to the arrest of Maduro to $50m after accusing him of being one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world.
Multiple news reports say that the Trump administration has dispatched navy warships to the southern Caribbean, saying that these missions are intended to counter threats to US national security posed by organisations in the region that the US has designated as narco-terrorist organizations. The New York Times reported last month that Trump signed a secret directive ordering the Pentagon to use military force against certain Latin American drug cartels that the US has deemed foreign terrorist organisations.
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