Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto told the United Nations General Assembly that the United States has an “illegal and completely immoral military threat on our heads”, since the reports arise that the United States is planning to increase attacks against the South American country.
Pinto told the UN Member States meeting on Friday in New York that his country was grateful for the support of governments and people “who are talking against this attempt to bring war to the Caribbean and South America.”
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The minister said that the threats of the United States towards his country aimed to allow “external powers to steal the immeasurable richness of oil and gas from Venezuela.”
He also accused Washington of using “vulgar and perverse lies” to “justify a atrocious, extravagant and immoral multimillion -dollar military threat.”
Earlier on Friday, the American announcer NBC News reported that US military officers are making plans to “attack drug traffickers within Venezuela” with air attacks, citing two unidentified American officials.
The president of the United States, Donald Trump, said last week that the US forces had carried out a third strike aimed at a boat that said it was “illicit narcotics traffic.” At least 17 people have been killed in the three attacks.
Experts have questioned the legality of US attacks against foreign ships in international waters, while UN data and the United States themselves suggest that Venezuela is not an important source of cocaine that arrives in the United States, as Trump said.
In a speech to the UN General Assembly, Trump said about drug smuggers: “For all terrorist thugs smuggling poisonous drugs in the United States of America, keep in mind that it will make it leave existence.”
On the contrary, the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, used his speech from the Unga to request a “criminal process” that opened against Trump for the attacks against vessels in the Caribbean, who had killed Venezuelans who had not been convicted of any crime.
Until now, the United States has deployed eight warships in international waters off the coast of Venezuela, backed by F-35 combat aircraft sent to Puerto Rico, in what calls an anti-drug operation.
Washington has also rejected an appeal of the dialogue of the president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, whom the Trump administration accused drug trafficking, a claim that Maduro has strongly denied.
Maduro and his deceased predecessor, Hugo Chávez, had once been regular presences in the annual meetings of the Unga that took place in New York, but Maduro did not come this year, with the Secretary of State of the United States, Marco Rubio, described him as a fugitive of justice about an accusation of the United States for drug trafficking accusations.
Back home in Venezuela, Maduro has asked that military drills begin on Saturday, to prove “the preparation of people for natural catastrophes or any armed conflict” in the midst of “threats” of the United States.
'Our fishermen are peaceful'
Venezuelan fishermen who talked to the AFP news agency said that the United States strikes in Venezuelan ships have made them fearful of venturing too far from the shore.
“It is very upset because our country is peaceful, our fishermen are peaceful,” said Joan Díaz, 46, at AFP in the northern city of Caraballeda.
“Fishermen go to work, and they [the US] They have taken these measures to come to our … workplace to intimidate, attack us, ”he said.
Díaz said that most fishermen remain relatively close to the coast, but that “to fish the tuna, you have to go far, and that is where they [the US forces] are.”
Luis García, a 51 -year -old boy who runs a group of about 4,000 fishermen and women in the La Guaira region, described the actions of the United States as “a real threat.”
“We have nine, 10 and 12 meter fishing boats against boats that have missiles. Imagine madness. Crazy, my God!” exclaimed.
“We maintain contact with everyone … especially those who go a little further,” he said.
“We report to the authorities we are going, where we are and how much our fishing operations will last, and we also inform our fishermen's advice,” Garcia said.
But, Garcia added, they would not be intimidated.
“We say: 'Mr. Donald Trump, we, the fishermen of Venezuela … We will continue carrying out our fishing activities. We will continue to go out to the Caribbean Sea that belongs to us.'”
