Caracas denounces that a US nuclear submarine will arrive on its shores early next week
Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López announced this Tuesday the deployment of drones and ships in its territorial waters, after the United States deployed warships in the Caribbean, claiming an operation against drug trafficking in the region.
“We will also have a significant deployment of drones with different missions, citizen service points, exploration and surveillance points, with marine infantry along all the rivers, especially in Catatumbo, (…) naval patrols (…) and larger vessels in our territorial waters,” he explained.
Padrino assured that this will mean “a full deployment,” despite the fact that there is already a military presence in the area. “We’re going to reinforce our forces; we’re sure we’ll achieve great results,” he declared in a video posted on his X social media profile, where he confirmed that the “operational deployment” of an additional 15,000 troops has begun.
Thus, he argued that the planning of this measure has been “very rapid” because they know the territory, the geographical conditions, as well as the characteristics of the armed terrorist groups and drug traffickers operating on the border and seeking to cross into Venezuelan territory. “In addition, of course, to combating all drug trafficking mafias,” he added.
For its part, the Permanent Mission of Venezuela to the UN has denounced “the escalation of hostile actions and threats by the United States government, which now include the deployment of additional warships to the Caribbean, including the USS Lake Erie, a guided-missile cruiser, and the USS Newport News, a fast-attack nuclear submarine, scheduled to arrive on Venezuelan shores early next week.”
In this regard, it has “strongly denounced this deployment, as it constitutes a serious threat to regional peace and security.” “The presence of an offensive nuclear submarine in the Latin American and Caribbean region is a serious threat to regional peace and security.” “The Caribbean contradicts the historic commitment of our nations and peoples to disarmament and the peaceful resolution of disputes, and represents a clear act of intimidation,” he declared.
However, he demanded “the immediate cessation of the US military deployment in the Caribbean, including the nuclear submarine,” demanded “clear and verifiable guarantees” that it “will not deploy or threaten to use nuclear weapons in the region,” and urged the Agency for the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons in Latin America and the Caribbean (OPANAL) “to convene urgent consultations to examine this series of hostile actions and threats.”
Finally, he called on all United Nations member states to “support respect for the denuclearized nature” of the region and to defend it as “a zone of peace.”
