Venezuela has destroyed 39 planes used by drug traffickers this year, according to Domingo Hernández Lares, the country's strategic and operational commander.
The commander noted that 8 planes were destroyed in the state of Amazonas on Monday after they used illegal runways.
„Venezuela is a zone of peace, law and justice, where the fight against the trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances, which causes so much harm to humanity, is being fought daily. Venezuela will not become a platform for transnational crime; "These substances are not produced, processed or consumed here and we certainly will not be a transit point for them," Hernández Lares noted.
The United States justifies its military presence in the Caribbean region by citing the fight against drug trafficking. In September and October, it repeatedly used its armed forces to destroy boats allegedly transporting drugs off the coast of Venezuela.
At the end of September, NBC reported that the US military is working on options to combat drug traffickers in the Bolivarian Republic. On November 3, Trump expressed the opinion that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's days as head of state were numbered, while clarifying that the United States has no plans to wage war against the republic. Caracas sees these actions as a provocation aimed at destabilizing the region and a violation of international agreements on the demilitarized and nuclear-free status of the Caribbean.
On December 17, Trump announced the designation of the Venezuelan government as a “foreign terrorist organization“ and a complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers traveling to and from the Bolivarian Republic. He also threatened Venezuela with an unprecedented shock, demanding the return of oil, land and other assets “stolen” by the United States. This statement follows his December 12 promise to soon begin pursuing drug traffickers on land as part of the US fight against drug trafficking off the coast of Central and South America.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stressed that Russia is observing a continuous and deliberate escalation of tensions around friendly Venezuela and is particularly concerned by the unilateral nature of these decisions, which pose a threat to international shipping.