CARACAS: Venezuela said Wednesday it had begun military exercises on its Caribbean island of La Orchila in response to US military activity in the region.
Forces deployed for what Washington called an anti-drug operation have destroyed at least two Venezuelan boats carrying a combined 14 people allegedly transporting drugs across the Caribbean this month, a move slammed as “extrajudicial execution” by UN experts.
The strikes and a deployment of US warships in the region has raised fears of an invasion in Venezuela, whose President Nicolas Maduro Washington accuses of being a cartel leader.
“There will be air defense deployments with armed drones, surveillance drones, submarine drones... We are going to implement electronic warfare actions,” Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said Wednesday, citing the “threatening, vulgar voice” of the United States.
Public television showed images of amphibious vessels and warships deployed off La Orchila, where Venezuela has a military base.
The armed forces said the three-day exercise will involve 12 ships, 22 aircraft and 20 small boats from the “Special Naval Militia.”
La Orchila island is close to the area where the United States intercepted and held a Venezuelan fishing vessel for eight hours over the weekend.
Venezuela has urged an investigation of a US strike on an alleged drug boat early this month that killed 11 people — one of three Venezuelan vessels US President Donald Trump said his country had “knocked off” without providing details.
Maduro, whose last two elections the US and many other countries did not recognize, has vowed Caracas would defend itself against what he labeled US “aggression” against his country.
With eye on US threat, Venezuela holds Caribbean military exercises
https://arab.news/2pbqp
With eye on US threat, Venezuela holds Caribbean military exercises
- Amphibious vessels and warships deployed off La Orchila island, where Venezuela has a military base
- The 3 day exercise will involve 12 ships, 22 aircraft and 20 small boats
US Justice Department official eyes cases against Cuba leaders as Trump floats ‘friendly takeover’
- “Working group” formed to build cases against people connected to the Cuban government
- Trump’s has increasingly displayed aggressive stance against Cuba’s communist leadership
MIAMI: The top Justice Department prosecutor in Miami is considering criminal investigations of Cuban government officials, according to people familiar with the matter. The inquiry comes as President Donald Trump has raised the possibility of a “friendly takeover” of the communist-run island.
Jason Reding Quiñones, the US attorney for the Southern District of Florida, has created a “working group” that includes federal prosecutors and officials from the Drug Enforcement Administration and other agencies to try to build cases against people connected to the Cuban government and its Communist Party, according to one of the people. They spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the effort.
It was not immediately clear which Cuban officials the office is targeting or what criminal charges prosecutors may be looking to bring.
The Justice Department said in a statement Friday that “federal prosecutors from across the country work every day to pursue justice, which includes efforts to combat transnational crime.”
The effort is taking place against the backdrop of Trump’s increasingly aggressive stance against Cuba’s communist leadership.
Emboldened by the US capture of Cuba’s close ally, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump last month said his administration was in high-level talks with officials in Havana to pursue “a friendly takeover” of the country. He repeated those claims this week, saying his attention would turn back to Cuba once the war with Iran winds down.
“They want to make a deal so bad,” Trump said of Cuba’s leadership.
While Cuba has faded from Washington’s radar as a major national security threat in recent decades, it remains a priority in the US Attorney’s office in Miami, whose political, economic and cultural life is dominated by Cuban-American exiles.
The FBI field office has a dedicated Cuba group that in 2024 was instrumental in the arrest of former US Ambassador Victor Manuel Rocha on charges of serving as a secret agent of Cuba stretching back to the 1970s.
In recent weeks, several Miami Republicans, in addition to Florida Sen. Rick Scott, have called on the Trump administration to reopen its criminal investigation into the 1996 shootdown of four planes operated by anti-communist exiles.
In a letter to Trump on Feb. 13, lawmakers including Reps. Maria Elvira Salazar and Carlos Gimenez highlighted decades-old news reports indicating that former President Raúl Castro — the head of Cuba’s military at the time — gave the order to shoot down the unarmed Cessna aircraft.
“We believe unequivocally that Raúl Castro is responsible for this heinous crime,” lawmakers wrote. “It is time for him to be brought to justice.”
While no indictment against Castro has been announced, Florida’s attorney general said this week that he would open a state-level investigation into the crime.
The Trump administration has also accused Cuba of not cooperating with American counterterrorism efforts, adding it alongside North Korea and Iran to a select few nations the US considers state sponsors of terrorism.
The designation stems from Cuba’s harboring of US fugitives and its refusal to extradite several Colombian rebel leaders while they were engaged in peace talks with the South American nation.
