Washington’s operations in the Caribbean mask a strategy of ‘regime change’ and control of oil, gas and gold.

On Monday, during a television program broadcast by Russia Today, former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa interviewed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, with whom he analyzed the geopolitical implications of the presence of U.S. military forces in the Caribbean.

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“What Washington wants is to control Venezuela’s wealth. That is the reason why the United States deployed warships, aircraft, missiles and a nuclear submarine near Venezuelan coasts under the pretext of fighting drug trafficking,” the Bolivarian leader said.

“The first thing they are after is oil and gas. Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves, which have increased thanks to new recovery technologies. Venezuela has the fourth-largest gas reserves, spread across the Caribbean — precisely where the United States sent its fleet,” Maduro explained.

The Venezuelan president also mentioned that the region may hold the world’s largest gold reserves, 30 million hectares of arable farmland, abundant water and a strategic geographic location that connects to Central America, North America and the Atlantic Ocean.

United States Seeks Conditions for Aggression

In August, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered a military deployment in the southern Caribbean. Meanwhile, U.S. Attorney General Pamela Bondi doubled the reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest under an unfounded accusation that he leads a “drug trafficking cartel.”

Caracas denounced both actions as maneuvers aimed at forcing political change and seizing Venezuela’s natural resources. To respond to the U.S. deployment, Maduro called for voluntary enlistment in the Bolivarian Militia to strengthen the country’s defense system.

Despite escalating tensions, the Bolivarian leader has expressed openness to dialogue with Trump but rejected the “Gunboat Diplomacy” that U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio appears to favor in relations with Latin American countries.

On Sept. 4, the Pentagon said two Venezuelan military aircraft flew “close to a U.S. Navy vessel in international waters,” calling it a “provocative” move to interfere with “counter-narcoterrorism operations” in the area. Trump later threatened to shoot down Venezuelan military planes if they put the United States “in a dangerous position.”

Meanwhile, President Maduro declared that the Bolivarian nation would resort to armed struggle if it were attacked. He said Washington “must abandon its plan for violent regime change in Venezuela and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean.”

Venezuela Fights Drug Trafficking Effectively

During the broadcast of his program “Con Maduro +” on Monday, the Venezuelan president said his country maintains a successful anti-drug policy, in contrast with the United States, which he accused of shirking responsibility for domestic drug consumption.

“They spread fake news to justify the unjustifiable. We decided to deploy our militia to confront this unacceptable interference, which seeks regime change to seize the nation’s natural wealth,” he said.

“The United States is the biggest drug consumer. It is not interested in addressing the serious public health problem its citizens face due to high drug use,” Maduro said.

He also argued that U.S. territory hosts the financial and business systems through which international drug trafficking and related Latin American oligarchies launder profits from illicit activities. He cited data from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and other international agencies.

The Venezuelan president said 70% of Colombian cocaine exits through Ecuadorian ports toward the United States, citing figures from the World Customs Organization, which also reported that the global illicit drug trade generates up to US$652 billion annually.

Currently, 85% of drug trafficking profits remain in the U.S. banking system, and 57% of money laundering linked to fentanyl takes place through traditional banking operations, he added.

Maduro defended Venezuela’s position as a territory free of coca leaf cultivation and cocaine laboratories, something confirmed by reports from United Nations–affiliated agencies.

Transnational Media Whitewash Aggression Against Venezuela

Maduro thanked the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) for defending Venezuelan sovereignty and voicing concern over the U.S. military deployment near the South American nation’s coasts.

Regarding these maneuvers, Maduro accused international news agencies of insisting on reporting “tensions” between Venezuela and the United States when the reality is “imperial aggression.”

“Those euphemisms seek to normalize the aggression of a declining power against a peaceful country,” the Venezuelan president said, recalling that the global governance system that prevailed for decades is being reconfigured to give way to a new international order based on equality and justice.

“Colonialism is not an alternative for Venezuela, nor is losing its independence,” he said, highlighting the role of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in reshaping multilateralism.

“Ancient China, together with powerful Russia and India, are working jointly to forge a world where there is room for everyone, preserving our cultures and economic systems,” Maduro said, referring to the SCO meeting held in Tianjin earlier this month.

“It is not an obligation to accept a supremacist model like the Western one, which excluded many and was imposed on colonies hundreds of years ago. Today Venezuela is at the forefront of a new world that is being born, and its destiny is victory,” he said.

“The Global South peoples are in a powerful era. A new humanity has said ‘Enough!’ and is moving forward with giant steps. They have not been able to defeat it and never will,” Maduro stressed.

teleSUR/ JF

Sources: RT – VTV

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