Marco Rubio has spoken with the leaders of other Western powers about the possibility of joining the military operation in the Caribbean
Next week, the two warships will arrive in the southern Caribbean—the USS Lake Erie, a guided-missile cruiser, and the USS Newport News, a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine—that the United States announced will join the three ships already deployed near Venezuela.
The United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, is negotiating with the leaders of Mexico, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom, and France the possibility of forming an international coalition to operate militarily in the Caribbean against the activities of the narco-chavista regime led by dictator Nicolás Maduro.
This was confirmed by diplomatic sources consulted by the Spanish outlet ABC. In the absence of official confirmation, the United States would be seeking new partners for its military deployment in the Caribbean against the Cartel of the Suns, a criminal organization led by Maduro that Washington declared a terrorist group last February.
The head of U.S. diplomacy has initiated talks with its regional allies, Mexico and Canada, and with the European governments of Italy, the United Kingdom, and France, countries that are affected by drug trafficking in their territories.
France, for example, has already confirmed its support for the northern initiative and will send warships to the island of Guadeloupe, a territory it administers. Another supporter already on board the U.S. naval landing—lacking military power, but whose territory and waters are strategically located—is Trinidad and Tobago.
Notably, Pedro Sánchez's Spain is preparing to be the major absentee from this international anti-drug trafficking plan. The socialist government is paying a high price for its geopolitical rapprochement with China, in addition to the fact that former president José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, of whom Sánchez is a disciple, is an avowed defender of the chavista regime and communist governments in the region.
The White House has set the reward for information leading to Maduro's arrest at 50 million dollars, the highest ever for a fugitive in history. The U.S. military deployment, which currently involves more than 4,500 soldiers, aims not only to neutralize all logistical capabilities of drug trafficking in the region, but also to economically strangle Maduro's regime.
The Trump administration has stated that it will not allow the Cartel of the Suns to continue financing the Venezuelan dictatorship, which currently contributes 500 million dollars per month to the chavista coffers.
"For the first time in the modern era, we are truly on the offensive against the organized cartels that are flooding our cities with poison," were the words Rubio used in a cabinet meeting at the White House this week.
