The Latin American Report # 590

The attack allegedly carried out by the U.S. military—in international waters—against a vessel with 11 members of the Venezuela-born gang Tren de Aragua has continued to generate noise a day after President Donald Trump announced it. Venezuela's Vice Minister for Communication, Freddy Ñáñez, appealing to a not very conclusive tool such as Google's Gemini, asserted that the video with which the U.S. president accompanied his claim was generated by artificial intelligence. "The video shows a vessel being attacked and then exploding in a way that looks like a simplified animation, almost cartoonish, rather than a realistic depiction of an explosion," Ñáñez said in a statement shared on Telegram and cited in the official portal of the so-called Ministry of Popular Power for Communication and Information.

For his part, Pentagon chief Peter Hegseth reaffirmed Trump's narrative, claiming that he witnessed the attack live, and that on Pennsylvania Avenue they know very well who was on the boat. But, in truth, beyond the statements of Trump, Rubio, and Hegseth, and a blurry video, there is no conclusive evidence backing the White House's story. It may not be a video made with AI—that would be very crude—but it could be a complex information operation to feed the theory of Tren de Aragua and the Cartel of the Suns as great monsters, under the aegis of Nicolás Maduro, that threaten regional peace and tranquility at scale.

Id est, an information operation that could include a real attack, but not necessarily against anything related to the TdA and much less against the Maduro government. In that sense, what I understand is that the Trump administration has the opportunity to demonstrate its point on this matter. Don't they say they killed 11 drug traffickers? Doesn't Hegseth say they know perfectly well who they were? Good, those are 11 people who have a name, a verifiable address somewhere, and a family, without entering here into the legal debate over whether the act, if confirmed, would be outside the law.

This is one of the first elements to disclose, along with the traceability of that vessel to the TdA and then to the Venezuelan military apparatus. The latter does not yet implicate Maduro per se, but it is a good first step if they want to establish the referred narrative on a factual basis. This updated AP wire reports that declassified U.S. intelligence assessments do not support it. However, it is very difficult to stop its massive spread, especially when it comes from figures like (Little) Marco, who has always had a powerful megaphone, and now controls Foggy Bottom. I will keep an eye on this development.

Mexico/US

In a continuation of the pragmatic style of her predecessor, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum continues adopting measures that do not compromise her sovereigntist position on a large scale but that can help her administration gain some points with Donald Trump's White House. In the context of Rubio's visit, the Mexican government has once again attacked Chinese commercial interests with more countervailing duties alleging dumping. Until the Republican leader's return to the Oval Office, there had not been such a frontal stance against Beijing, although perhaps behind the scenes the Mexicans are discussing these measures—and coordinating their arguments— with Chinese authorities. As the famous late-19th-century Cuban politician José Martí would say, "in politics, the real lies in what is unseen." I see a connection here, though it does not necessarily present itself this way, but rather as an organic action to clean up the market, as in this EFE wire.

This is all for today's report.