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James O'Byrne on U. S Military Mobilization off the coast of Venezuela

James O'Byrne

U. S Military Mobilization off the coast of Venezuela

Claims and stances

Transcript

  1. 0:00 In late August of this year, the Trump administration ordered a very large mobilization of American um vessels into the international waters off the coasts of Venezuela.
  2. 0:14 There were two American battleships, a uh aircraft carrier, and a nuclear powered submarine.
  3. 0:20 And F 35 fighter jets were moved to Puerto Rico or bases in Puerto Rico to give supporting fire.
  4. 0:28 Um Donald Trump and the uh uh current administration has designated um the Venezuelan government uh under Nicolas Maduro and uh the drug cartel that it that operates in Venezuela, the Trade Aguas as a terrorist organization.
  5. 0:45 So this designation um under US law allows for America to go in and conduct um national security strikes is what they call it um on the Trade Arguas uh in Venezuela.
  6. 1:00 And in September on September 2nd of this year, uh there was a strike um off the coast of Venezuela on a um uh bel as a believed gun running vessel uh that belonged to the Trade Aguas and it killed eleven uh Venezuelans.
  7. 1:17 Um, there are very big implications for this um for this move into international waters by the new administration.
  8. 1:27 Um there are there are legal implications because um many believe that this is a violation of international maritime laws.
  9. 1:38 Um you can't necessarily engage with a foreign country, a sovereign state uh in international waters when there has been no act of provocation.
  10. 1:50 Um so the Trump administration has still stationed um these vessels outside.
  11. 1:56 They're really the the main goal is to combat drug trafficking into America.
  12. 2:00 Um that's the whole premise for this uh mobilization, and that's the whole premise for the designation of the Trade Arguas and the Venezuelan government as a whole as a terrorist organization because Trump and his um and his cabinet and Trump and his um generals believe that the Trade Arguas is operating under the influence of uh Nicolas Maduro, who is the longtime dictator of Venezuela.
  13. 2:25 So this will be a very interesting story to follow um in towards the end of the year, and uh it's really shaking up the geopolitical climate um a whole lot because Venezuela is aligned very heavily with China and Russia, and um this will be um a very interesting um story to follow.