The meeting took place as the President increased pressure on Venezuela over what the US says are drug shipments emanating from that country that threaten the lives of Americans.
By Catholics for Catholics
As the crisis with Venezuela escalates, President Donald Trump held talks on Monday with top advice-givers to deliberate the pressure campaign on that country, a senior US official told Reuters.
According to The Guardian, the official said the top Oval Office gathering included senior members of Trump’s national security group. No details of the talks were immediately available.
The meeting took place as Trump increased pressure on Venezuela over what the US says are drug shipments emanating from that country that threaten the lives of Americans.
The Guardian reported that the Trump administration has accused Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s authoritarian president, of being a “narco-terrorist” kingpin. It is happening as the president has pledged to pardon a former Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernández, sentenced last year to 45 years in a US federal prison for allegedly creating “a cocaine superhighway to the United States”.
Despite the conundrum, the Trump administration has been evaluating Venezuela-related options to combat what it has portrayed as Maduro’s role in supplying illegal drugs that have killed Americans. Maduro has denied having any links to the illegal drug trade and accused the US of plotting to steal Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
On Sunday, Trump confirmed that he had spoken to Maduro, whom the US considers an illegitimate leader after an election the opposition called a sham, but Trump declined to provide details of the conversation when asked about it on Air Force One on Sunday.
Since September, U.S. forces have performed at least 21 strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, killing at least 83 people. The American forces in the region have been described as focused on counter-narcotics operations, despite the assembled firepower far outweighs what is required for them.
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