Washington\u2019s designation of an alleged Venezuelan cartel as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) takes effect on Monday, opening the door to new forms of US pressure on President Nicolas Maduro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The FTO list, which includes Islamist groups, separatists, guerrillas, and more recently, gangs and drug organizations from Mexico and Colombia, is overseen by the State Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
From Monday, the list will include \u201cCartel de los Soles\u201d (\u201cCartel of the Suns\u201d), which Washington claims is run by Maduro. The shadowy group is responsible for \u201cterrorist violence throughout our hemisphere,\u201d Secretary of State Marco Rubio said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The move is part of the Trump administration\u2019s campaign against drugs and illegal immigration from Latin America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
No evidence has been made public to support the accusation of Maduro\u2019s involvement in the group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
However, with a major military presence now deployed in the Caribbean, including an aircraft carrier, the FTO designation will give legal cover for more pressure on the Venezuelan authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Already, US forces have killed at least 83 people in air strikes on boats accused of ferrying drugs in international waters since September, according to an AFP tally of publicly released figures. Again, no evidence has been made public that drugs were in the boats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 \u2018New options\u2019 \u2013<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump earlier this month stated that Maduro\u2019s days are \u201cnumbered\u201d and US media outlets claim the Republican leader has authorized covert CIA operations in Venezuela.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The State Department\u2019s FTO list definition does not mention military actions, but in an interview Friday Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested that the new classification would bring \u201ca whole bunch of new options.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis increase in pressure creates the perception that some kind of attack is almost imminent,\u201d Juan Manuel Trak, an academic in Mexico, told AFP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But political science professor Alexis Alzuru told AFP that attacks would be limited to \u201ccertain airstrips linked to drug trafficking\u201d far from urban centers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Economic blow \u2013 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
An FTO designation makes it illegal to support any organization on the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Economists say that could strengthen the US sanctions regime against Venezuela, which already includes an oil embargo, forcing Caracas to sell its oil at discount on the black market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That could further suffocate an economy threatened by hyperinflation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For now, Washington is allowing Caracas to export its oil on the black market and has not touched Chevron\u2019s license there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The US fleet \u201chas not yet seized a ship, but let\u2019s say that this (FTO classification) could legally open up that possibility,\u201d oil expert Francisco Monaldi told AFP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2013 Negotiating with Maduro \u2013 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Friday, Maduro took part in a Student Day celebration, declaring he will not be intimidated by Washington\u2019s \u201cploys.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s Friday, and I\u2019m going to party! And nobody can stop me!\u201d he told cheering students at the festivities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Venezuelan government projects an image of strength, with frequent military exercises during which top commanders declare absolute loyalty to Maduro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf that network doesn\u2019t fracture and force Maduro to negotiate,\u201d Alzuru said, \u201cthe probability of negotiation with the United States is basically zero.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maduro said he is willing to talk \u201cface to face\u201d with Trump, who hinted at a meeting \u201cat some point.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trak believes it is \u201cvery unlikely\u201d that Maduro will fall or that the opposition, led by Maria Corina Machado, will come to power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTrump might be considering gaining access to Venezuelan mineral resources in exchange for de-escalating the threat in the Caribbean and then facilitating some sort of internal transition in Venezuela,\u201d Trak said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Washington\u2019s designation of an alleged Venezuelan cartel as a foreign terrorist organization (FTO) takes effect on Monday, opening the door to new forms of US pressure on President Nicolas Maduro. The FTO list, which includes Islamist groups, separatists, guerrillas, and more recently, gangs and drug organizations from Mexico and Colombia, is overseen by the State […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8911,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[222],"tags":[2626,1409,2057],"class_list":["post-8910","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-terrorist","tag-usa","tag-venezuela"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8910","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8910"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8910\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8912,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8910\/revisions\/8912"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8911"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8910"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8910"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/miaminewsnetwork.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8910"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}