The Pentagon launches another missile and geopolitics gets more intense than your favorite Netflix series
Well, here we are, again. On a random Friday, instead of planning which viral memes we are going to share, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth decided it was a perfect day to order another attack on a ship. Because nothing says “weekend” like a bit of military action in international waters off Venezuela. The justification, according to the official tweet (because now wars are announced online, as if it were a drop from an artist), was that the ship in question was a water taxi for narcotics. Hegseth, with the confidence of someone who has just found the last package of cookies in the pantry, declared without embarrassment that “our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics” and that the people on board were, attention to the euphemism of the year, narcoterrorists. Four men died, but the details about their identity are more mysterious than the ending of ‘Inception’.
And then there is Donald Trump, who could not be missing from this geopolitical drama with his own publication, stating that the ship was “loaded with enough drugs to kill 25 to 50 thousand people” and insinuating that it was venturing into US territory. A classic: the concept of “international waters” seems to become a bit flexible when a compelling narrative is involved. This is not an isolated event; It is the fourth deadly attack in the Caribbean in what seems like the final season of a series where everyone loses. The plot thickens: Trump revealed to lawmakers that he is treating drug traffickers as illegal combatants, which basically opens the door to using military force at his discretion. It’s as if he’s unlocked a new level of executive power, setting the stage for measures that have half the world wondering: What about Congress in all this? Oh yeah, probably watching everything from the sidelines with popcorn.
The memorandum, the presidential powers and the criticism that burns hotter than the attacked ship
To lend an air of formality to this chaos, the Trump administration laid out its justification for the attacks in a memo obtained by The Associated Press. The document, which sounds like something out of ‘House of Cards,’ states that the president determined that the United States is in a “non-international armed conflict” with these terrorist organizations. Basically, it’s the VIP pass for the Pentagon to “conduct operations against them in accordance with the law of armed conflict.” Translation? We have the green light for military actions without having to ask for permission all the time. Senator Jim Risch, a Republican, came out to defend the move, arguing that the president has authority based on “his general powers under the Constitution as commander in chief.” His rhetorical question was: “What could be a greater defense of this country than keeping out this poison that is killing thousands of Americans every year?” A powerful argument, although it leaves aside the small detail of the sovereignty of other countries.
But not everyone is buying this script. On the other side of the ring, Colombian President Gustavo Petro, a left-wing leader who does not exactly have a BFF relationship with Trump, accused the United States of committing “murder” and urged the victims’ families to “partner.” In a tweet that burned hotter than the attacked boat, he dropped this gem: “There are no narco terrorists on the boats. The narcos live in the US, Europe and Dubai. Poor Caribbean youth are on that boat.” In other words, according to Petro, the real problem is with high-level consumers and bosses, not with the weakest links in the chain. A criticism that puts its finger on the wound of international hypocrisy.
Meanwhile, video of Friday’s attack is already circulating online, showing a small boat moving in open water that suddenly explodes with a spectacle of splashing water and flames that would make any Hollywood special effects pale. When the smoke clears, all that remains is the ship consumed by fire, floating motionless as a symbol of this relentless war. With this, there are now at least three operations directed against vessels that, according to US authorities, had left Venezuela. The attacks coincide with an increase in the Navy’s presence in the region—eight warships carrying more than 5,000 sailors and marines—a deployment not seen in recent times and that has been fairly stable for weeks, according to defense officials who spoke on condition of anonymity (because, of course, no one wants to be canceled for leaking information).
In the first attack, Trump claimed that the boat was carrying members of the Tren de Aragua cartel, but publications about subsequent attacks, including this latest one, have been vaguer than a cheap magazine horoscope. There are no concrete details about which organizations have been attacked, and in total, these four attacks have claimed the lives of 21 people, according to Washington. To make matters worse, Pentagon officials who briefed senators this week were unable to provide a clear list of the designated terrorist organizations at the center of the conflict. And when the AP asked for more details about the attack, Pentagon officials simply referred back to Hegseth’s social media post. The Venezuelan government’s press office, for its part, has not responded to requests for comment, probably because they are as lost as we are in this Caribbean game of thrones.
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