Venezuelan Leader Maduro Is Charged in the U.S. With Drug Trafficking

[bittraffic]

But what right does US have to extract someone in their own country and jail them on their soil?

Looks very disrespectful to a president of a country. What Maduro had done its not their jurisdiction to do something about it but the people of Venezuela. Its just unfortunate that they don''t don't have a neighbor country strong enough to bond with for support.

Well, they have done it before, and the world didn't care. Would they care if they did that again today? Of course not.

According to the indictment, it is for crimes in American soil this time. This is exactly what happened to Manuel Noriega in Panama in 1989, and back then there were no remote controlled UAVs; the very first use of a stealth plane (the "F-117") in a (real) military operation. Desert storm, etc, would come later.

If any country objects an unilateral intervention, it would be like siding with "narco-terrorism" (the words from the indictment). Of course the "friends" of Maduro are already protesting: China, Russia, Cuba, Nicaragua, etc. But can they REALLY stop the US? Only if they moved their military to Venezuelan waters (again).

Of course this could be "yet another bluff" from Trump. He likes to push, but when it comes to action, somehow he withholds like the democrats. All the previous sanctions have done nothing but fuel Maduro's regime with more excuses for neglecting to solve any issues the Venezuelan people suffer from, all they care is to remain in power at any cost.

US will find it a threat if Maduro's friends are going to move their military forces, its like igniting a wildfire which may not help.

Venezuela got oil there that has been making Venezuela's economy alive and if Venezuela is friends with China then trading with China is one big advantage to provide good life for Venezuelans maybe enriching the country's forces too by asking help from Russia. All Maduro has do to is stay in their country I don't think US will just go there are snatch him.

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[Artemis3]

Following up, the President of the United States just ordered the "largest U.S. military operations in the region since the 1989 invasion of Panama".

MIAMI -- President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that Navy ships are being moved toward Venezuela as his administration beefs up counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean following a U.S. drug indictment against Nicolás Maduro.
...
The goal is to nearly double the U.S. counter-narcotics capacity in the Western Hemisphere, with forces operating both in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Esper said the mission would be supported by 22 partner nations.
...
“If I was just indicted for drug trafficking by the United States, with a $15 million reward for my capture, having the U.S. Navy conducting anti-drug operations off my coast would be something I would worry about," said Sen. Marco Rubio
...
The Trump administration has long insisted that all options are on the table for removing Maduro, including military ones. Still, there’s no indication then, or now, that any sort of U.S. invasion is being planned.
...
The report of the planned deployment comes two days after one of Venezuela's naval patrol boats sank after colliding with a Portuguese-flagged cruise ship near the Venezuelan-controlled island of La Tortuga. Maduro accused the ship of acting aggressively and said it was possibly carrying “mercenaries” seeking his ouster.

So this is totally not a display of power to persuade the Venezuelan military that they should cooperate with the US and hand over the indicted, or else...

They say they have been planning this operation for months but the timing couldn't be more opportune, right after indicting Maduro and his friends. The constitution of Venezuela states that if both President and Vice-president (both indicted) go missing or resign, the National Assembly President takes charge and is supposed to call elections within 30 days.

But the regime installed a "national constituent assembly" that declared itself above the constitution and law, that makes no new constitution but keeps issuing decrees and laws like the National Assembly should, but they don't recognize it after losing the majority of seats in 2015.

As for the naval ship sinking itself after ramming against a much larger cruiser ship, well that should give you an idea of the military condition of this country...

[squatz1]

Following up, the President of the United States just ordered the "largest U.S. military operations in the region since the 1989 invasion of Panama".

MIAMI -- President Donald Trump announced Wednesday that Navy ships are being moved toward Venezuela as his administration beefs up counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean following a U.S. drug indictment against Nicolás Maduro.
...
The goal is to nearly double the U.S. counter-narcotics capacity in the Western Hemisphere, with forces operating both in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. Esper said the mission would be supported by 22 partner nations.
...
“If I was just indicted for drug trafficking by the United States, with a $15 million reward for my capture, having the U.S. Navy conducting anti-drug operations off my coast would be something I would worry about," said Sen. Marco Rubio
...
The Trump administration has long insisted that all options are on the table for removing Maduro, including military ones. Still, there’s no indication then, or now, that any sort of U.S. invasion is being planned.
...
The report of the planned deployment comes two days after one of Venezuela's naval patrol boats sank after colliding with a Portuguese-flagged cruise ship near the Venezuelan-controlled island of La Tortuga. Maduro accused the ship of acting aggressively and said it was possibly carrying “mercenaries” seeking his ouster.

So this is totally not a display of power to persuade the Venezuelan military that they should cooperate with the US and hand over the indicted, or else...

They say they have been planning this operation for months but the timing couldn't be more opportune, right after indicting Maduro and his friends. The constitution of Venezuela states that if both President and Vice-president (both indicted) go missing or resign, the National Assembly President takes charge and is supposed to call elections within 30 days.

But the regime installed a "national constituent assembly" that declared itself above the constitution and law, that makes no new constitution but keeps issuing decrees and laws like the National Assembly should, but they don't recognize it after losing the majority of seats in 2015.

As for the naval ship sinking itself after ramming against a much larger cruiser ship, well that should give you an idea of the military condition of this country...

That's literally what this is and they said this is what they're doing. The guy literally just got charged with distributing drugs throughout the US, pretty much running a cartel, and so on and so forth. For the US this is the best time for them to leverage their military, and their money, to be able to get someone to flip and to join team US.

They've just gotta pray that the sanctions have been working, and that they've forced Maduro to have to skimp out on paying certain members of his military. Which may sway them towards taking the big money bags from the US. It'd be stupid if Maduro does this, but greed and intelligence don't go hand in hand.

Doubt much will come out of this now though, Trump wants to ride off the approval bounce that comes with being the president during some sort of disaster (in this case, corona pandemic) not being a wartime president when people hate boots on the ground, and really any war.

[BADecker]

All this means is the Maduro has been given the job of controlling the drug flow into the US... given control by the Federal Bureau of Narcotics. I mean, Mexican drug lords are fighting so hard among themselves that they aren't effective for drug trafficking any longer. Maduro has shown himself capable by the way he wrecked Venezuela.

[Artemis3]

That's literally what this is and they said this is what they're doing. The guy literally just got charged with distributing drugs throughout the US, pretty much running a cartel, and so on and so forth. For the US this is the best time for them to leverage their military, and their money, to be able to get someone to flip and to join team US.

They've just gotta pray that the sanctions have been working, and that they've forced Maduro to have to skimp out on paying certain members of his military. Which may sway them towards taking the big money bags from the US. It'd be stupid if Maduro does this, but greed and intelligence don't go hand in hand.

Doubt much will come out of this now though, Trump wants to ride off the approval bounce that comes with being the president during some sort of disaster (in this case, corona pandemic) not being a wartime president when people hate boots on the ground, and really any war.

No the sanctions are doing nothing of the sort. If anything, only the masses suffer. In any case this could also explain why Maduro created a mining company for the military, so he could keep them happy from the spoils underground (gold and diamonds, they said).

Maduro allows the military to conduct bribes usually (but not always) at the border, this is a decades old institution that only strengthened even more under his regime. The military knows that this "operation" could be endangered if another (not accomplice) government comes.

You see, the foot guard at the border will accept the bribe to let you pass, say, food or medicine (because you are supposed to have a permit, yadda, yadda). Part of the bribe goes to his superior, and part of that goes to his superior's superior, all the way to the top. This is kinda like an MLM with the (compulsory) bribes being the main fuel.

Of course traditionally most of the money came from smuggling out (not in) gasoline, because of the absolutely ridiculous subsidy its nearly free, so what takes you 100 USD to fill a cistern tank truck, in Colombia easily becomes 40 thousand or more USD. That's enough money for everyone, including the smugglers and all the irregular groups operating on both sides of the border. Note that while Colombia has traditionally been a "drug" cartel, Venezuela instead has been a gasoline traffic cartel (sure they could have probably also expanded into drugs, or that's what the DEA says anyway).

This has been going at least since the 90ies, which is when they got the fear of adjusting gasoline prices following Caracazo, sowing this much worse future (this is what happens when you deny the market and attempt to peg the price of things).

Yes what I'm saying is that this corrupt military caste was produced by decades of absurd gasoline subsidy, and from those habits came the rest. Incidentally while they can bully and extort civilians or even rival irregular groups, for actual military operations they suck. Of course Venezuela has not faced a REAL military confrontation in centuries.

[squatz1]

That's literally what this is and they said this is what they're doing. The guy literally just got charged with distributing drugs throughout the US, pretty much running a cartel, and so on and so forth. For the US this is the best time for them to leverage their military, and their money, to be able to get someone to flip and to join team US.

They've just gotta pray that the sanctions have been working, and that they've forced Maduro to have to skimp out on paying certain members of his military. Which may sway them towards taking the big money bags from the US. It'd be stupid if Maduro does this, but greed and intelligence don't go hand in hand.

Doubt much will come out of this now though, Trump wants to ride off the approval bounce that comes with being the president during some sort of disaster (in this case, corona pandemic) not being a wartime president when people hate boots on the ground, and really any war.

No the sanctions are doing nothing of the sort. If anything, only the masses suffer. In any case this could also explain why Maduro created a mining company for the military, so he could keep them happy from the spoils underground (gold and diamonds, they said).

Maduro allows the military to conduct bribes usually (but not always) at the border, this is a decades old institution that only strengthened even more under his regime. The military knows that this "operation" could be endangered if another (not accomplice) government comes.

You see, the foot guard at the border will accept the bribe to let you pass, say, food or medicine (because you are supposed to have a permit, yadda, yadda). Part of the bribe goes to his superior, and part of that goes to his superior's superior, all the way to the top. This is kinda like an MLM with the (compulsory) bribes being the main fuel.

Of course traditionally most of the money came from smuggling out (not in) gasoline, because of the absolutely ridiculous subsidy its nearly free, so what takes you 100 USD to fill a cistern tank truck, in Colombia easily becomes 40 thousand or more USD. That's enough money for everyone, including the smugglers and all the irregular groups operating on both sides of the border. Note that while Colombia has traditionally been a "drug" cartel, Venezuela instead has been a gasoline traffic cartel (sure they could have probably also expanded into drugs, or that's what the DEA says anyway).

This has been going at least since the 90ies, which is when they got the fear of adjusting gasoline prices following Caracazo, sowing this much worse future (this is what happens when you deny the market and attempt to peg the price of things).

Yes what I'm saying is that this corrupt military caste was produced by decades of absurd gasoline subsidy, and from those habits came the rest. Incidentally while they can bully and extort civilians or even rival irregular groups, for actual military operations they suck. Of course Venezuela has not faced a REAL military confrontation in centuries.

But that's the point, the point is for the masses to suffer so they begin to rebel against their government. Sanctions typically aren't going to cripple to people at the top, as they have MANY other means to gain $$$ -- they can avoid traditional markets (Stocks,Bonds, etc) and just go ahead and sell drugs (Maduro)

By the way you're explaining things, it seems like this is just a system of corruption that has only been further expanded by the Maduro regime b/c of the hurt that come from US sanctions. The US thinks that at a certain point the people aren't going to allow the government to continue to exploit them, and they're going to rebel and instill a democratic government. Eh?

Maybe I'm wrong here, just spitballing with ya.