The Latin American Report # 657

In the continuation of a textbook-type psychological warfare with so far unclear goals, US President Donald Trump has issued a problematic announcement in which, from Washington or Mar-a-Lago, he declares a forced closure of Venezuelan airspace. We are in times of raw realism in international relations, with the MAGA-led Washington acting as the axis of all the trend.

Meanwhile, the New York Times claims, based on the famous anonymous sources "familiar with the matter," that Trump and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro spoke on the phone prior to the designation last Monday of the so-called Cartel of the Suns as a Foreign Terrorist Organization, courtesy of a Marco Rubio who was supposedly in the conversation. So, what is the ultimate goal here? Just overthrowing Maduro? Substantive regime change? The Venezuelan oil? All the latter, or something else?

I left out the argument of pursuing drug trafficking because it is somehow obvious that, after the pardon offered by Trump last night in favor of the convicted, corrupt former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández—in blatant disrespect for the US judicial system itself—, it is nothing more than a pretext to achieve other strategic goals or results. "Closing airspace above a country is sometimes a first step ahead of airstrikes," recall two Washington Post journalists, along with the fact that, legally speaking, "Trump does not have the legal power to close the airspace over another country."

Weekly flights from Venezuela have already been reduced by nearly 25% in recent days due to a caution notice issued by the US air authority, which first caused the suspension or rescheduling of several flights associated with six European and Latin American companies, and then the official revocation of their licenses to operate in Venezuelan airspace as a punitive measure by the authorities of the South American country.

By the way, it was learned yesterday that in the first attack in early September against vessels suspected of transporting drugs in the Caribbean, US forces finished off two survivors of the first missile, which did kill nine others instantly. "If the reports are true, then a war crime was committed," denounces a Democratic representative cited by EFE. "Biden coddled terrorists, we kill them," argues the Secretary of War in opposition to that argument.

Cuba

The Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America, born from the inspiration of the late Hugo Chávez and Fidel Castro in a very different geopolitical context, sent more than 7,100 tons of humanitarian aid to Cuba to support the Island's sustained efforts to repair the damage from Hurricane Melissa, which, except for human deaths, did cause countless material ravages—3.5 million people are reported affected—in a country already plunged in a comprehensive crisis.

This time, it was reported, 76 containers of food, supplies for road recovery, and 5 backhoes are due to arrive on the country. The United Nations system has also consistently supported us and plans to continue doing so, while little or nothing is known about the conditional aid promised by the US government, which did directly support recovery efforts in other affected countries like Jamaica and Haiti.

This is all for today’s report.