As reports surface that the US is planning to launch more attacks on the South American nation, Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto has told the UN General Assembly that the country is “hanging over our heads” with an “illegal and completely immoral military threat.
Pinto stated to the assembled UN member states on Friday in New York that his nation was appreciative of the support of “the governments and people who are speaking out against this attempt to start war with the Caribbean and South America.”
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The minister claimed that US threats to Venezuela’s economy intended to allow “external powers to rob Venezuela’s immeasurable oil and gas wealth” were made.
He also accused Washington of “justifying an atrocious, extravagant, and immoral multibillion-dollar military threat” by using “vulgar and perverse lies” to justify it.
US military officials are reportedly planning to “target drug traffickers inside Venezuela” with air attacks, according to two unnamed US officials, according to a report released by NBC News earlier on Friday.
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, claimed last week that US forces had launched a third strike against a vessel he claimed was “trafficking illicit narcotics.” In the three attacks, at least 17 people were killed.
Experts have questioned whether US attacks on foreign ships in international waters are legal, and UN and US data suggest that Venezuela is not a significant source of cocaine entering the country, as Trump has claimed.
Trump warned drug smugglers that we will blow you out of existence in a speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
Gustavo Petro, the president of Colombia, echoed his UNGA speech, calling for a “criminal process” to be opened against Trump for the attacks on Venezuelans who had not been found guilty of any crime.
In what it refers to as an anti-drug operation, the US has so far deployed eight warships to international waters off Venezuela’s coast with the aid of F-35 fighter jets from Puerto Rico.
Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro, who the Trump administration has accused of drug trafficking, has also been denied by Washington, who has vigorously refuted Maduro’s request for dialogue.
Former regular attendees at the annual UNGA meetings in New York were Maduro and his late predecessor, Hugo Chavez, but this year, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio described him as a fugitive from justice due to an indictment involving drug trafficking allegations.
In response to US “threats,” Maduro has demanded that military exercises in Venezuela begin on Saturday to assess “the people’s readiness for natural disasters or any armed conflict.”
Our fishermen are tranquil, according to the statement.
According to Venezuelan fishermen who spoke to the AFP news agency, they fear going too far away from the shore as a result of the US strikes on Venezuelan boats.
Joan Diaz, 46, told AFP in the northern town of Caraballeda, “Our country is peaceful, our fishermen are peaceful.”
He claimed that “Fishermen go to work, and they]the US] have taken these steps to intimidate and attack us.”
Diaz claimed that the majority of fishermen stay close to the shore, but that “you have to go very far, and that’s where the US forces are.”
The La Guaira region’s leader, Luis Garcia, 51, described the US actions as “a real threat.”
“We have fishing boats that are nine, ten, and twelve meters long against missile-armed vessels.” Imagine the absurdity. My God, the madness”! he remarked.
We communicate with everyone, especially those who are making small advances, he said.
Garcia said, “We report to the authorities about where we are going, where we are, and how long our fishing operations will last,” as well as to the fishing councils of our countries.
They wouldn’t be intimidated, Garcia continued.
Source: Aljazeera
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