Maduro Explains U.S. False Accusation of Drug Trafficking

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has denounced the United States' argument about combating drug trafficking as false, asserting that it is used to justify its aggressions against the South American country.

"Simply, since they cannot accuse me, since they cannot accuse Venezuela of having weapons of mass destruction, since they cannot accuse us of having nuclear rockets, of preparing a nuclear weapon, of having chemical weapons, they invented an accusation that the United States knows is as false as that accusation of weapons of mass destruction that led them to an eternal war," stated the president in an interview with Spanish journalist Ignacio Ramonet.

"In the United States, they know that this is false. So, I believe all of that must be set aside, and we must start talking seriously, with data in hand," added the Venezuelan head of state. "The United States Government knows it, because we have told many of its spokespeople that if they want to talk seriously about an agreement to combat drug trafficking, we are ready. That if they want oil from Venezuela, Venezuela is ready for U.S. investments like with Chevron, whenever they want, wherever they want, and however they want," expressed Maduro.

"If rationality and diplomacy were ever to prevail, it could perfectly well be discussed, and we have the maturity and the stature. Furthermore, we are people of our word," he concluded.

Venezuela Under U.S. Siege

• Since last August, the U.S. has maintained the largest military deployment in decades in Caribbean waters, with a sustained presence of naval and air assets. Initially, Washington justified this operation under the pretext of alleged counter-narcotics efforts, blaming—without presenting evidence—the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro for contributing to this crime.

• Over the months, Washington's official narrative has undergone a predictable shift. As the Venezuelan government had denounced, the alleged focus on drug trafficking has given way to discourse openly centered on the control and illegal appropriation of the South American country's energy resources, within a context of increasing economic pressure and threats of force. In recent weeks, the U.S. has seized at least two oil tankers, an act labeled by Caracas as "theft" and piracy.

• The U.S. military operation has also had lethal consequences. More than 100 people have died as a result of over twenty bombings against small vessels in Caribbean and Pacific waters, without the U.S. publicly demonstrating these vessels' links to illicit activities.

• Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro has repeatedly warned that the country's natural wealth is the true objective of U.S. aggression against Caracas.

• The Venezuelan position was openly supported by Russia, whose permanent representative to the UN, Vasily Nebenzya, warned that Moscow has "every reason to believe that what the U.S. is currently doing against Venezuela is not an isolated action: it is an intervention that could become a model for future military actions against other Latin American states."

• Furthermore, China, Colombia, Brazil, Mexico, Nicaragua, and Cuba expressed their support for Caracas.