"U.S. intelligence has assessed that little to none of the fentanyl trafficked to the United States is being produced in Venezuela, despite recent claims from the Trump administration, a senior U.S. official directly familiar with the matter tells Drop Site.
The official noted that many of the boats targeted for strikes by the Trump administration do not even have the requisite gasoline or motor capacity to reach U.S. waters, dramatically undercutting claims by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. The claim is backed up by recent comments made by Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who similarly noted that zero fentanyl is produced in Venezuela.
Despite the lack of intelligence linking Venezuela with fentanyl production, the Trump administration has made alleged Venezuelan drug trafficking the casus belli in its drive to overthrow the government of Nicolas Maduro. On Thursday, President Donald Trump referred to possible ground action, claiming at a press conference that the “sea drugs” coming in are “5% of what they were a year ago. So now they’re coming in by land.” “The land is going to be next,” he said, indicating he was willing to bypass congressional approval. On Friday, the U.S. announced it is sending an aircraft carrier to Latin America in a further escalation.
Two sources familiar with discussions at the White House note that Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a long time proponent of regime change in Venezuela, has been the driving force behind the aggressive military and rhetorical posture toward the Maduro regime."
https://www.dropsitenews.com/p/marco-rubio-secretary-state-push-venezuela-maduro-regime-change-boat-strikes
#USA #Trump #Venezuela #Rubio #RegimeChange #InternationalLaw
