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Shkruar nga Julia Ledurdhe & Susannah George
The large-scale concentration of US military forces and assets in the Caribbean suggests that the Trump administration is preparing to expand operations...
The large-scale concentration of US military forces and assets in the Caribbean suggests that the Trump administration is preparing to expand operations in the region, perhaps escalating tensions between Washington and Caracas and raising the possibility of first-strike US strikes on Venezuela.
U.S. forces in the Caribbean include eight Navy warships, a special operations ship and a nuclear-powered attack submarine. When the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford arrives in the Caribbean next week, it will bring with it three more warships and more than 4,000 additional troops.
In addition to bolstering naval forces, the Pentagon has sent bombers along Venezuela's coastline in a show of force and shifted assets to U.S. bases in the area, including one in Puerto Rico that now houses F-35 fighter jets, according to a Washington Post analysis of satellite imagery.
President Donald Trump has hinted that he is planning increased operations against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, but when asked Friday if he is considering military strikes inside Venezuela, he replied "no."
The Pentagon has admitted to carrying out more than a dozen attacks on suspected drug ships, killing at least 61 people since September.
From the beginning, the Pentagon's focus on the Caribbean has far exceeded what was needed for a counternarcotics operation, suggesting the mission was always "determined to evolve," said Ryan Berg, director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
But Berg said the addition of the carrier strike group could indicate that expanded operations are imminent.
"The competition for these ships is tremendous," he said, because only three of them are deployed at a time. Once the Ford arrives in the Caribbean next week, "accommodation will start moving and Trump will have about a month to make a major decision on an attack before he has to move" the ship elsewhere.
In Washington, Democratic lawmakers say they are increasingly frustrated with the lack of transparency surrounding the operations. Democrats in Congress have accused the Trump administration of failing to share legal justification for the strikes.
In a statement Friday, the United Nations human rights chief condemned the attacks, saying the attacks violate international law and constitute "extrajudicial killings" because the Trump administration failed to provide information that "individuals on the targeted vessels appear to pose an imminent threat to the lives of others." /Adapted from the Washington Post/
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