The Latin American Report # 589

Donald Trump announced at the White House this Tuesday that U.S. forces deployed in the Caribbean had sunk a boat that had allegedly departed from Venezuelan territorial waters loaded with drugs. "When you leave the room, you'll see that we just, over the last few minutes, literally, shot a boat - a drug-carrying boat," Trump told the press. "[The] U.S. military conducted a lethal strike in the southern Caribbean against a drug vessel which had departed from Venezuela and was being operated by a designated narco-terrorist organization," stated Rubio in a veiled reference to the so-called Cartel of the Suns, which is allegedly led directly by Nicolás Maduro, the head of operations at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas.

The Trump administration's narrative is that this "cartel" plays a key, leading role in trafficking drugs destined for the United States, and on that basis, it has deployed significant military resources off the coast of Venezuela. This measure has led Maduro to mobilize civilian troops and activate an anti-imperialist rhetoric that has a historical and factual basis. However, the UN and even some previous U.S. government reports do not support the Trump team's discourse. "The impact of increased cocaine trafficking has been felt in Ecuador in particular, which has seen a wave of lethal violence in recent years linked to both local and transnational crime groups, most notably from Mexico and the Balkan countries," reads the latest report from a UN agency, as cited by AP.

This 👇 entered after publishing the report. Rubio's reference was not to the Cartel of the Suns but to the Tren de Aragua (Aragua Train), the gang born in a ruthless prison in the eponymous Venezuelan state. It has also been associated, with little to no evidence, with Maduro's government, and thus used to bolster controversial immigration measures or designations.

Cuba

Vietnamese authorities yesterday presented Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel with 15 million dollars raised in solidarity with the difficult situation facing the Island. Vietnam, which is currently in a period of celebration, is one of the countries that has most supported Cuba in recent years but has pointed out that Havana's regulations do not favor the expansion of trade ties. Díaz-Canel is on a tour that will also take him to Laos and China in an attempt to turn promises of support—so far insufficiently realized, at least not with the speed and quality that Cuba needs—into concrete agreements. To a large extent, comprehensive U.S. sanctions, active for more than sixty years and which under Trump have become more targeted and efficient, are at the root of the Cuban problem. Despite Vietnam's type of political system, it is interesting to see the treatment it receives from Marco Rubio's State Department.

Coming next 👇