Venezuela to boost troops to tackle drug trafficking as US strengthens military in Caribbean

CARACAS – Venezuela pledged on Sept 7 to sharply boost troops in coastal states to tackle drug trafficking – a move that comes after the US ordered the deployment of an additional

10 fighter jets to Puerto Rico

to carry out operations against drug cartels.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has ordered more troops in the Guajira region of Zulia state and the Paraguana peninsula in Falcon, Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said, adding that the area constituted “a drug trafficking route”.

The military’s presence on the island of Nueva Esparta and in the states of Sucre and Delta Amacuro will also be expanded.

Some 25,000 troops are set to be deployed, up from the 10,000 which have been deployed in the states of Zulia and Tachira that border Colombia, he said.

“No one is going to come and do the work for us. No one is going to step on this land and do what we’re supposed to do,” Mr Lopez said in a video uploaded to social media.

Tensions between Venezuela and the US have escalated in the wake of President Donald Trump’s new approach to fighting the war on illegal narcotics.

The deployment of the jets adds to a US military build-up in the Caribbean, and comes after a US military strike last week that killed 11 people and sank a boat from Venezuela which Mr Trump said was transporting drugs.

Mr Maduro has accused the US of seeking a regime change.

Mr Trump said on Sept 5 that the US is not talking about a regime change, but compared the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans in overdoses to war dead, as he sought to justify the muscular military activity in the Caribbean.

The US President is weighing options for further strikes, including potentially attacking suspected drug cartel targets inside Venezuela, CNN reported on Sept 5, citing multiple sources briefed on the administration’s plans.

Such a strike would mark a major escalation. REUTERS