The U.S. Harasses Venezuela Amidst the Covid-19 Pandemic

By teleSUR/ JF published 26 March 2020

Regardless of the human costs that the economic blockade causes to the Venezuelan people, the U.S. Attorney General William Barr Thursday announced that his country will designate Venezuela as a state sponsoring terrorism.

The State Department announced indictments against President Nicolas Maduro and other Venezuelan officials, whom the Trump administration accuses of having ties to international drug trafficking networks.

Additionally, the U.S. government offers US$15 million for “any information” leading to the arrest of the Bolivarian president as well as rewards of US$10 million for information related to National Constituent Assembly (ANC) president Diosdado Cabello, Vice President Tareck El Aissami, former general Hugo Carvajal, and former military chief Cliver Alcala Cordones.

To justify its arbitrary actions, the U.S. argues that Venezuela allowed the then Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to use its national airspace to transport drugs and “flood the U.S with cocaine,” as the Southern District of New York Attorney Geoffrey Berman said.

Since it is unrealistic to imagine that President Maduro could be arrested, the U.S. government’s actions appear to be actually pointing at other targets.​​​​​​​

One of them is to symbolically strengthen the blockade against the Bolivarian people at a time when the international community requests the lifting of sanctions that the U.S. keeps against Venezuela, Cuba, and Iran, the latter of which was also harassed with new sanctions on Thursday​​​​​​​.​​​​​​​

Charges against Venezuelan officials also occur when Colombia is losing its fight against drug trafficking, as both international and local authorities have been forced to admit.

To divert attention from this, the Trump administration seeks to revive the accusation of an alleged alliance between Venezuela and the FARC, which is now a political party in Colombia.

Finally, the U.S. government’s actions against the Bolivarian people also occur amidst the campaign of unconventional military aggressions.

On Thursday, President Maduro denounced that an arsenal of military weapons, which was seized in Colombia, was destined to provoke new attacks in Venezuela.