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ALL ELEMENTS IN PLACE FOR A US DECAPITATION STRIKE ON VENEZUELA  
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Roger D. Harris and Joe Emersberger
September 5, 2025
LA Progressive
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_ All the elements, especially US impunity, are in place to
eventually attempt a decapitation strike eliminating the South
American nation’s leadership. _

, Cagle Cartoon

 

President Donald Trump euphorically concluded his White
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press conference on September 2 with breaking news: the US military
had just blown up a small motor vessel in the middle of the Caribbean
Sea. He alleged that the skiff came from Venezuela and was loaded with
illicit drugs headed to the US.

On social media, he further embellished his story by saying
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the crew were members of the Tren de Aragua cartel
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which Trump claims is controlled by Venezuelan President Nicolás
Maduro. Trump alleges that this cartel is “responsible for mass
murder, drug trafficking, sex trafficking, and acts of violence across
the US.”

Evidence blown out of the water

There was no attempt to stop and search the boat in international
waters, before murdering the crew. This gruesome practice
[[link removed]] arrogates
to the US state the extrajudicial power to kill anyone with whom it
unilaterally declares itself to be at “war.”

The eleven victims are just a drop in the imperial blood bucket
compared to the US-sponsored genocide
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Gaza. But the homicidal “victory” was used by US Secretary of
State Marco Rubio to crow
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the “full power of America, the full might of the United States.”

Maduro responded
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no one believes Trump’s and Rubio’s lies: “they come for
Venezuelan oil and gas, they want them for free.”

The day before the incident, Maduro presciently warned that the US
could create a false positive
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justify the US military deployment. Claims have circulated that the
incident may have been faked
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AI. If true, that’s not much of a relief. It simply means Trump’s
military escalation against Venezuela has begun at a lower level than
he claims.

Maduro alluded to the fabricated Gulf of Tonkin incident and the
explosion of the Maine, which precipitated the 1964 Vietnam and 1898
Spanish-American wars respectively. Maduro also mentioned the WMD hoax
that was used to justify the 2003 US invasion of Iraq.

Maduro might also have noted that President Bill
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bombed Sudan, diverting attention
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his Monica Lewinsky sex scandal. Trump is now facing similar
difficulties due to his close friendship with the deceased
pedophile Jeffrey Epstein
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A decapitation strike attempt on Venezuela foretold

All the elements, especially US impunity, are in place to eventually
attempt a decapitation strike eliminating the South American
nation’s leadership.

Trump ominously boasted
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his press conference “there is more where that came from” for
Venezuela. Just four days earlier, Washington’s “historic partner
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Israel had assassinated the Yemeni prime minister
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his civilian cabinet. Arguably, the word “partner” understates the
intimate level of integration between the two. The Israelis have been
perpetrating a live-streamed genocide in Gaza for over 700 days while
receiving daily airlifts
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military supplies under both Biden and Trump.

Decapitation of an enemy’s leadership has become a tactic for the
“partners.” Aside from Yemen, the Israelis launched a devastating
decapitation strike on Hezbollah
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Lebanon along with a similarly brazen one of top Iranian leaders
during its twelve-day war with Tehran. In 2020, Trump murdered Iranian
General Qassem Soleimani with a drone.

Trump signed an executive
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designating drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations
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day he returned to the presidency. US military were deployed
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the Caribbean near Venezuela under the ruse of drug interdiction.
Shortly afterwards, _The New York Times_ reported
a leaked “secret order
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authorizing the use of the US military to intervene in other countries
against drug cartels.

Also in August, the reward on the head of Maduro was doubled to $50
million with lesser rewards for other top officials. US sanctions now
extend to the heads of the state oil and transportation companies,
supreme court justices, electoral councilors, national assembly
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various military and security heads, and so forth; in short, a
leadership hit list.

Trump doesn’t actually care about the US’s illegal drug problem

The US is indeed flooded with drugs, but Trump’s concern is
insincere. Otherwise he would have mobilized against trafficking
within the US and close allies like Ecuador
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Instead Trump diverts public attention by scapegoating
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a country that contributes to the problem negligibly.

Illicit dsrug sales in the US are estimated
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$200–$750 billion, including new synthetics. Remarkably, the only
other domestic commodity that comes close in volume is legal
pharmaceuticals at $600 billion, followed by oil and gas at $400
billion. Indeed, the US is the largest consumer
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illegal drugs and a major supplier of weapons
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precursor chemicals
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the cartels. As the world’s leading narcotics money launderer
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prominent US banks implicated include HSBC Bank USA, Wachovia, Wells
Fargo, and Bank of America.

We constantly hear about Latin American drug kingpins, but WHO
DISTRIBUTES THE DOPE WHEN IT CROSSES THE BORDER is left unanswered.
Research by Mexican journalist Jorge Esquivel demonstrates
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no US administration has ever seriously investigated domestic drug
trafficking networks. Venezuelan international analyst Sergio
Gelfenstein asserts
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has “no interest whatsoever in combating the drug trade”; it is
just too big and profitable.

Besides, drug usage serves to pacify youth, African Americans, and
other potentially dissident demographics. Journalist Gary
Webb exposed
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drug trafficking on the streets of Los Angeles in the 1980s helped
fund the CIA
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Contras in Nicaragua. And opium production was virtually eradicated in
Afghanistan before the US invasion of 2001, only to explode
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under direct US military occupation.

Fake threat of Venezuelan drug trafficking

“What the US really seeks is regime change
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regional control, thinly veiled behind drug war rhetoric,” according
to _The Cradle_.

The authoritative 2025 UN World Drug Report
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minimal mention of Venezuela, emphasizing that it plays a marginal
role in global drug trafficking. The report confirms that Venezuela is
a territory largely free of drug cultivation and processing, as well
as any significant international cartel presence. Nor does the report
mention the fictitious “Cartel
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the Suns,” which the US claims Maduro heads.

Despite the Tren de Aragua’s designation by the US as a terrorist
organization
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the intelligence community itself refutes
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it is controlled by Maduro or is even a highly functioning
international narcotics cartel.

The guard rails are down for imperialist aggression

Democrats may carp about the optics of Trump’s actions, but they
have been bipartisan partners in opposition to the Bolivarian
Revolution’s attempt to build socialism
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the 21st century ever since Hugo Chávez was first elected
Venezuela’s president in 1998. Note, every US Senator voted to
confirm
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Rubio as Trump’s Secretary of State.

The so-called “international community” and its institutions such
as the United Nations have been powerless to stop the US/zionist war
on Palestine let alone one in Uncle Sam’s “backyard.” Welcome to
the post-Gaza genocide
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And let’s not forget the perfidy of big “human rights” NGOs like
Amnesty International, which absurdly and hysterically alleges
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the Venezuelan government’s “cruelty knows no bounds,” nicely
timed to justify US imperialism
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The US aggression on Venezuela is clearly escalating from funding of
opposition elements, lawfare, and sanctions, plus occasional coup
attempts and sabotage. Now direct military confrontation is possible,
which could involve an attempt to assassinate the entire Bolivarian
leadership.

The reported 4,500 US troops
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deployed to the Caribbean could never take Venezuela even if they were
multiplied manyfold. But recent history suggests that the US often
avoids a full US troop-heavy occupation. In Haiti, Libya, and Syria,
the US instead opted for chaos rather than permitting insubordinate
states to survive.

Resistance by Venezuela has stiffened
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meet the challenge. Civilian-military unity has remained strong.
This video clip
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artisanal fishing boats accompanying one of the mobilized Venezuelan
naval ships. Shortly before the US destroyed the alleged “drug
boat,” President Maduro had declared a "republic
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arms." And millions of civilian reservists have enlisted in the
Bolivarian National Militia, a branch of the Venezuelan armed forces,
while regular troops had been dispatched to the Colombia border.

Many regional leaders
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with the regional ALBA
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have condemned the US military buildup. Further afield, Russia, Iran,
and China all stated their support of Venezuela. And international
grassroots support for Venezuela’s sovereignty has been
overwhelmingly positive, condemning Yankee warfare
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For humanity, VENEZUELA’S BOLIVARIAN REVOLUTION REPRESENTS HOPE;
for the US imperial project, which seeks to crush any alternative to
its order, it is a threat. To force regime change in Caracas,
Washington may attempt to eliminate the current leadership or pursue
another tactic. The method matters less than the goal – either
installing a compliant vassal or, failing that, leaving the country in
chaos. The pressure will therefore continue, and likely intensify.

_ROGER D. HARRIS is with the anti-imperialist human rights
group, Task Force on the Americas
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rights organization founded in 1985 dedicated to supporting social
justice movements in Latin America and the Caribbean, along with
educating North Americans about the realities of the Americas and the
role the United States plays there._

_JOE EMERSBERGER is co-author of "Extraordinary Threat: The US
Empire, the Media, and Twenty Years of Coup Attempts in Venezuela
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* Venezuela; US interference in Venezuela;
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* coup
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