US vs. Venezuela: Secretary of War Hegseth announces Operation Southern Spear

Pete Hegseth, who now heads the US War Department, not the Defense Department, said the mission is being led by Joint Task Force Southern Spear and US Southern Command (Southcom) with the goal of protecting the "homeland, removing narco-terrorists from our hemisphere and securing our homeland from the drugs that are killing our people. " "President Trump gave the order to act — and the Department of Defense is following through. Today I'm announcing Operation Southern Spear . . .

The Western Hemisphere is America's area and we will defend it," he wrote in H. The announcement came a day after Donald Trump met with Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Dan "Raisin" Kane to brief the president on potential options for action in the region. also came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the airstrikes after French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barro said they were a violation of international law.

"I don't think the European Union has the right to define what international law is. And it's not up to them to determine how the United States protects its national security," Rubio said after the G7 meeting. He said the U. S. is under attack from organized drug crime, and Trump is responding by "protecting our country. " "This is an anti-drug operation. The President gave an order to hold it for the protection of our country and it continues.

It could stop as early as tomorrow if they stop sending drug traffickers. The Maduro regime is a narco-terrorist entity charged in the Southern District of the United States with narco-terrorism," Rubio said. Pete Hegseth announced the Southern Spear just days after it was revealed that the U. S. had eliminated 75 alleged "narco-terrorists" since the Pentagon began focusing on the region. No evidence has been provided by the Pentagon that they were drug traffickers.

With the start of his second term Trump increased military pressure on Venezuela, accusing Nicolás Maduro of smuggling drugs to the United States. Trump also called the largest drug cartels terrorist organizations. "Under President Trump, we are killing these cartel terrorists who want to harm our country and its people," concluded Hegseth in Spanish: "Unite for peace in America. Enough endless wars. Enough of unjust wars. Enough of Libya. Enough of Afghanistan. " Asked if he had a message for U. S.

President Donald Trump, Maduro said in English, "Yes, peace, yes, peace. " He did not directly answer a question about whether he was concerned about possible U. S. aggression. Instead, he simply said he was focused on peacefully governing his country. Maduro attended a mass rally of Venezuelan youth, who he later urged to resist what he called threat of invasion by the United States.

Over the past three months, the United States has concentrated about 15,000 military personnel in the Caribbean Sea, as well as more than a dozen military ships, including the aircraft carrier, which is called the "deadliest combat platform" of the United States Navy.