Colombia’s Proxy Drug War with Venezuela

Drug wars and oil wars will not go away anytime “soon” if the U.S. government has its way in South America:

…The U.S. Air Force on March 30 and 31 [2021] flew four C-17 Globemaster troop and equipment-carrying planes to airports in Colombia…the U.S. Congress will soon authorize the sale to Colombia of fighter aircraft worth $4.5 billion. […]

Colombian President Iván Duque in late February announced the creation of the “Special Command against Narcotrafficking and Transnational Threats.” This will be a 7000-person elite military force with air assault capabilities. Its “certain objective” according to the Communist Party’s website, is war against Venezuela.

During the tenure of left-leaning Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and that of his successor, President Nicolas Maduro, Colombian paramilitaries repeatedly crossed the border on destabilization missions. Organizers for a 2000 seaborne anti-Maduro assault called Operation Gedeon were based in Colombia, as were some of the plotters who mounted a drone attack against Maduro in 2018. The U.S. and Colombian governments in February 2019 failed in their attempt to deliver humanitarian aid across the border at Cucuta, Colombia. Their idea had been to divide Venezuela’s military…The outcome of the fighting in Apure is unclear. The Colombian and U.S. governments undoubtedly would utilize any humanitarian crisis as an opening to further destabilize Venezuela’s government.

It’s certain that the U.S. government in the Biden era continues to seek the overthrow of Venezuela’s government. Without question the reactionary Colombian government is at the beck and call of the U.S. government. The U.S. has its eye on Venezuela’s … crude oil, in excess of 550 billion barrels…What is underappreciated is the role of drug-trafficking in serving interventionist purposes. […]

Drug wars conducted by proxy nations are the U.S. military’s answer to manufacturing consent for war. Drug enforcement’s role is to offset the bad optics and crippling economics of direct military interventions. It’s been determined that fielding each DEA or CIA functionary, or each U.S. soldier, costs on average $1 million, up to $1.3 million if a soldier is injured. Colombia’s soldiers are much cheaper.