Rubin: Why is a massive American armada hovering off Venezuela in the first place?

"The angry queries from GOP legislators over possible U.S. military war crimes in the Caribbean are welcome. Yet, too many Republicans avoid the urgent question that hangs over the killing of more than 80 people allegedly smuggling drugs in small boats: Why is a massive American armada hovering off Venezuela in the first place? The official response that this is a war to destroy criminal drug cartels who are poisoning Americans and thus undermining U.S. security is a transparent lie and a clumsy cover-up."

"The vicious drug that claims thousands of U.S. victims and is at the center of U.S. drug interdiction efforts is fentanyl. But Venezuela neither makes nor exports fentanyl. Fentanyl comes nearly entirely from Mexico, where it is manufactured from precursors procured from China. Venezuela is a pass-through country for cocaine exports by criminals not major cartels. But cocaine is mainly manufactured in Colombia and reaches the U.S. primarily via the Pacific Ocean."

A large U.S. naval force is operating off Venezuela amid allegations of killing more than 80 people in drug-smuggling boats. Official justification frames the operation as a campaign against criminal drug cartels allegedly threatening U.S. security. Venezuela does not manufacture or export fentanyl, which is the primary drug killing Americans; fentanyl is produced mainly in Mexico from Chinese precursors. Venezuela primarily functions as a pass-through for cocaine, which is largely produced in Colombia and reaches the U.S. mainly via the Pacific. Only about 8% of cocaine enters via the Caribbean, and the U.S. Coast Guard had been interdicting small smuggling boats. The pardon of a convicted Honduran president raises questions about the sincerity of the drug-war rationale and suspicions of regime-change motives.

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