Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro is pleading for help from China and Russia as President Donald Trump escalates his military campaign in the region.
While the U.S. has yet to formally invade Venezuela, it has already carried out numerous drone strikes against vessels smuggling narcotics at the behest of the Maduro regime.
According to official U.S. memos obtained by The Washington Post, Maduro is now asking Moscow and Beijing to provide military equipment that will somehow allow him to fend off the American threat.
The article explained:
Amid a buildup of American forces in the Caribbean, Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro is reaching out to Russia, China and Iran to enhance its worn military capabilities and solicit assistance, requesting defensive radars, aircraft repairs and potentially missiles.
The requests to Moscow were made in the form of a letter meant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and was intended to be delivered during a visit to the Russian capital by a senior aide this month.
Maduro, according to the documents, also composed a letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping seeking “expanded military cooperation” between their two countries to counter “the escalation between the U.S. and Venezuela.”
In the letter, Maduro asked the Chinese government to expedite Chinese companies’ production of radar detection systems, presumably so Venezuela could enhance its capabilities.
Both The Miami Herald and The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that Trump was planning to strike territories inside Venezuela.
The Journal reported:
While the president hasn’t made a final decision on ordering land strikes, the officials said a potential air campaign would focus on targets that sit at the nexus of the drug gangs and the Maduro regime.
Trump and his senior aides have been particularly focused on unsettling Maduro as the U.S. military has attacked boats allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.
Meanwhile, The Herald wrote:
The Trump Administration has made the decision to attack military installations inside Venezuela and the strikes could come at any moment, sources with knowledge of the situation told the Miami Herald, as the U.S. prepares to initiate the next stage of its campaign against the Soles drug cartel.
Sources told the Herald that the targets — which could be struck by air in a matter of days or even hours — also aim to decapitate the cartel’s hierarchy. U.S. officials believe the cartel exports around 500 tons of cocaine yearly, split between Europe and the United States.
However, these claims were later played down by the White House, with spokeswoman Anna Kelly insisting that “any announcements regarding Venezuela policy would come directly from the President.”
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