Trump believes that Maduro’s days as Venezuela’s leader are numbered | International

The president of the United States, Donald Trump, considers that Nicolás Maduro’s days at the head of Venezuela are numbered, but he also “doubts” that his country is going to enter a war with the Caribbean nation. This was stated in an interview for the CBS television program 60 Minutes, recorded last Friday and broadcast this Sunday, when questioned about the situation between the two countries and the United States military deployment in the area.

Asked by journalist Nora O’Donnell about the large concentration of warships that the United States maintains deployed in international waters of the Caribbean, on the border with Venezuelan territorial waters, and whether there will be a war between this country and Venezuela, Trump responded: “I doubt it. I don’t believe it. But Venezuela has behaved very badly with us, and not only on the issue of drugs.”

Immediately, the US president began to repeat his usual allegations that the Chavista regime has emptied its prisons and sanatoriums to send convicts and the mentally ill to the United States.

When the journalist asked him if he believes that Maduro’s “days are numbered” as Venezuelan leader, Trump replied: “I think so.” But he did not want to give more details.

Since September 2, the United States has carried out at least 16 extrajudicial attacks against vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific that it claims, without providing evidence, were trying to transport drugs to its territory. At least 64 people have been killed in these incidents, and there are only three survivors: a Peruvian and a Colombian who were repatriated to their countries, and a third person rescued alive in an attack last Wednesday.

Initially, the Trump Administration justified these operations as essential to fight against drug cartels, with which the White House considers it to be in an “armed conflict.”

But gradually, Trump has been hinting that an attempt to overthrow Maduro may be hiding behind this campaign. His Government accuses the Venezuelan president of being part of the drug trafficking ringleaders, maintains that Venezuela is a narco-state and has doubled the reward for the capture of the Chavista leader to fifty million. The US president has authorized the CIA to carry out covert missions in the Caribbean country and frequently speaks that the current campaign against the boats will move to a “second phase” on land.

Asked by O’Donnell about that threat, the Republican refused to answer clearly. “I’m not saying it’s true or false. I wouldn’t be inclined to say I would, but I’m not going to tell a journalist if I’m going to attack or not.”

The United States maintains a dozen American ships in the Caribbean, with 10,000 soldiers and F-35 aircraft, which will be joined in the coming days by the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier, the largest and most modern in its fleet. The nuclear-powered Ford has a crew of 5,000 soldiers.

The most recent attack reported by the United States took place on Saturday, as Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth revealed in a tweet. The three people on board were killed in the attack.

As usual, Hegseth has not provided specific information about the identity of the travelers, the type of drugs they were supposedly transporting or the criminal gang that, according to the United States, controlled the boat.

It is only limited to ensuring that the alleged drug boat was operated by an “organization designated as terrorist.” On the State Department list, Washington included the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua in February, in addition to six Mexican cartels: those of Sinaloa, Jalisco Nueva Generación, del Noroeste and del Golfo, as well as La Nueva Familia Michoacana and the United Carteles.

“Our intelligence services knew that this vessel—like ALL THE OTHERS—was involved in illicit drug smuggling, was traveling along a known drug trafficking route and was transporting narcotics,” Hegseth pointed out.

The Secretary of Defense accompanied his message on networks, as has also become customary, with a video in which he shows the moment in which the American projectile hits the boat and causes it to explode.