CARACAS: Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro said the United States government is forging a war against him as the world’s biggest warship approaches the South American country.
In a national broadcast on Friday night, Maduro accused the administration of President Donald Trump of “fabricating a new eternal war.”
The US government has increased the pressure on Maduro by taking the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, which can host up to 90 airplanes and attack helicopters, closer to Venezuela.
“They promised they would never again get involved in a war and they are fabricating a war that we will avoid,” said Maduro. Trump has accused him, without providing evidence, of being the leader of the organized crime gang Tren de Aragua.
“They are fabricating an extravagant narrative, a vulgar, criminal and totally fake one,” Maduro added. “Venezuela is a country that does not produce cocaine leaves.”
American forces have destroyed several boats off the Venezuelan coast, allegedly for their role in trafficking drugs into the US At least 43 people were killed in those attacks.
Tren de Aragua, which traces its roots to a Venezuelan prison, is not known for having a big role in global drug trafficking but for its involvement in contract killings, extortion and human smuggling.
Maduro was widely accused of stealing last year’s election, and countries including the US have called for him to go.
Venezuela’s Maduro says the US is fabricating a war as aircraft carrier approaches
https://arab.news/yg2tc
Venezuela’s Maduro says the US is fabricating a war as aircraft carrier approaches
- Maduro accused the administration of President Donald Trump of “fabricating a new eternal war“
- “They are fabricating an extravagant narrative, a vulgar, criminal and totally fake one“
Europeans push back at US over claim they face ‘civilizational erasure’
- “Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference
MUNICH: A top European Union official on Sunday rejected the notion that Europe faces “civilizational erasure,” pushing back at criticism of the continent by the Trump administration.
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas addressed the Munich Security Conference a day after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio offered a somewhat reassuring message to European allies. He struck a less aggressive tone than Vice President JD Vance did in lecturing them at the same gathering last year but maintained a firm tone on Washington’s intent to reshape the trans-Atlantic alliance and push its policy priorities.
Kallas alluded to criticism in the US national security strategy released in December, which asserted that economic stagnation in Europe “is eclipsed by the real and more stark prospect of civilizational erasure.” It suggested that Europe is being enfeebled by its immigration policies, declining birth rates, “censorship of free speech and suppression of political opposition” and a “loss of national identities and self-confidence.”
“Contrary to what some may say, woke, decadent Europe is not facing civilizational erasure,” Kallas told the conference. “In fact, people still want to join our club and not just fellow Europeans,” she added, saying she was told when visiting Canada last year that many people there have an interest in joining the EU.
Kallas rejected what she called “European-bashing.”
“We are, you know, pushing humanity forward, trying to defend human rights and all this, which is actually bringing also prosperity for people. So that’s why it’s very hard for me to believe these accusations.”
In his conference speech, Rubio said that an end to the trans-Atlantic era “is neither our goal nor our wish,” adding that “our home may be in the Western hemisphere, but we will always be a child of Europe.”
He made clear that the Trump administration is sticking to its guns on issues such as migration, trade and climate. And European officials who addressed the gathering made clear that they in turn will stand by their values, including their approach to free speech, climate change and free trade.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Saturday that Europe must defend “the vibrant, free and diverse societies that we represent, showing that people who look different to each other can live peacefully together, that this isn’t against the tenor of our times.”
“Rather, it is what makes us strong,” he said.
Kallas said Rubio’s speech sent an important message that America and Europe are and will remain intertwined.
“It is also clear that we don’t see eye to eye on all the issues and this will remain the case as well, but I think we can work from there,” she said.
