“We reaffirm our concern that this American military official is reappearing in South America and has systematically interfered in the internal affairs of our country through actions and opinions aimed at destabilising it”, the statement said. Full Text -> Sputnik

The US Southern Command confirmed that it was closely monitoring the situation in Venezuela. “It is a lawless state, with ELN and FARC gaining territory“, Admitted the Admiral Craig Fowler, Head of the Southern Command; And general David Bellon, New Director of Southern Command Marine Equipment. By Esmond Harmon . Full Text -> TheClevelandAmerican

” … under Maduro, Venezuela has become a criminal paradise of impunity for narcoterrorists and drug traffickers, and again, where the people of Venezuela are forced to endure this nightmare of insecurity. We see that. We see that tied to the drug – the illicit drug trade and one way of getting at these larger organizations, which is our goal. So, of course, we’re interested in drug smugglers, but really, as I stated previously, our goal is to get to the transnational criminal organizations, those enterprises”. Full Text-> Global Public AffairDoS

President Donald Trump is scheduled to fly to Miami-Dade County on Friday, and he will be visiting the U.S. Southern Command in Doral, also known as “Doralzuela” because of its high population of Venezuelans. By Ross Palombo. Full Text ->Local10News

Adm. Craig Faller, head of U.S. Southern Command, said in an interview that the recent decision to double anti-narcotics assets in Latin America was months in the making and not directly tied to Maduro’s indictment in New York on charges of leading a narcoterrorist conspiracy that sent 250 metric tons of cocaine a year to the U.S. Full text -> Curaçao Chronicle

Maduro and his cronies have been indicted as drug traffickers, and they profit enormously from illicit trade – a 50 percent increase in the illicit drug trafficking into and out of Venezuela in recent years.That makes the narcotraffickers who work in and out of Venezuela a target for our disruption, dismantlement, and defeat operations like any other transnational criminal organization.  There are no transnational criminal organizations that are exempt. Full text-> US State DEpartment

Such operations by the US are not uncommon, but US military activity around Venezuela has gotten more scrutiny amid talk by US leaders of military intervention in the South American country. By Christopher Woody. Full text-> Business insiders