Ten thousand soldiers on board 10 US warships, including a nuclear submarine, several destroyers and a missile cruiser, patrol the southern Caribbean in what is the largest US military build-up in the region in decades. At least seven boats allegedly transporting drugs have been bombed, resulting in the extrajudicial killing of more than 32 people. And now the US administration is threatening Venezuela with direct military action. The Pentagon has reportedly drawn up plans for military strikes inside Venezuela, and President Trump has authorised the CIA to conduct lethal covert operations there.

All of this is ostensibly aimed at getting rid of Maduro, who Trump claims is leading a vast criminal organisation. “Maduro is the leader of the designated narco-terrorist organisation Cartel de l

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