The Trump administration was bragging recently about the killing of 11 people in a boat in the Caribbean, who they alleged were smuggling drugs. They provide no evidence, and the claim is preposterous — drug smugglers would not sacrifice cargo space with passengers. Regardless, this act illustrates the bipartisan consensus that some people, generally people of color, are OK to kill (bipartisan in the sense that Obama enthusiastically assassinated opponents in the Middle East, along with their children in at least one case).
As troubling is the repeatedly stated goal of the U.S. of overthrowing the elected government of the sovereign country of Venezuela, which is also illegal. The ghouls in the State Department claim this is to counter illicit drugs flowing into the U.S. from that country resulting from a fictional alliance between President Maduro and the gang Tren de Aragua. However, the administration has provided no proof, and apparently Tulsi Gabbard, the Director of National Intelligence, fired members of her team who contradicted that claim in a report. Regardless, the U.S. has a checkered past itself with the drug trade, for example, installing a now convicted drug trafficker in a coup in Honduras. In addition to this illegal extra-judicial killing, the U.S. has for many years been engaged in illegal bilateral sanctions against Venezuela, which as we know kill people in need of food, medicines and other necessities, and the U.S. stole the official jet of the Venezuelan government.
If the administration was truly interested in countering drug trafficking it would fund programs to improve and uplift the lives of people in the U.S. living in poverty and hopelessness, conditions exacerbated by the corruption and neglect of those in power and the greedy and cynical billionaires that own them. Stemming drug use in the U.S. would also relieve Latin American countries of the tyranny of drug cartels, which are propped up by U.S. consumption of these substances.
Clearly these actions of the U.S. administration have nothing to do with drugs or gangs. It could have something to do with stealing Venezuela’s oil, the world’s largest untapped reserves — the occupant of the White House has openly boasted as much in the past. Or it may be because the U.S. still believes it is entitled to loot other countries, and since peer countries like Russia and China have proved too powerful to overcome, the administration is resorting to bullying, piracy and violence.
Despite all the evidence contradicting U.S. claims, the press and our elected officials continue to advance these false arguments, and will continue to do so unless opposed by citizens opposed to this criminal cowardice.
David King lives in Amherst.