VENEZUELA, SINKING
- Paul Hansbury
- 7 hours ago
- 6 min read
I've been meaning to write about the US military build up off the Venezuelan coast for more than a month now. The first notes for this post began in the first week of November, at which point my working title was: Will the US invade Venezuela?
By the first half of November, the US had already amassed a large flotilla off the coast of the South American country. The flotilla, America's largest since the Cuban missile crisis, included an aircraft carrier, warships, an attack submarine, patrol boats, and amphibious assault boats. The US had also reopened a closed naval base on Puerto Rico, 500 or so miles due north from Caracas.
It's no secret that the US dislikes the Venezuelan regime. US government officials rightly see Nicolas Maduro, in power since the death of Hugo Chavez in 2013, as an illegitimate president who flagrantly stole an election last year; they consider him a fugitive from justice and have put a $50m bounty on his head.
