President Trump took in a livestreamed briefing at U.S. Southern Command Friday that highlighted a new counternarcotics operation that has detained more than 1,000 drug traffickers and robbed the Venezuelan government of illicit profits.
“This is a new operation, and it has been incredibly successful,” Trump said, while seated in front of a replica stack of seized drugs in a socially distanced auditorium of military and civilian officials at the Doral, Florida, command headquarters.
Trump said the drug fight was especially important with more than 70,000 people in the United States dying of drug overdoses each year and a slight uptick during the period of coronavirus lockdowns in the country.
“Unfortunately, the shutdowns caused by the China virus have led to a recent rise in overdose deaths,” said Trump, who turned to thank a handful of some of the 1,000-member Southcom team working to interdict narcotics in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
Trump kicked off the enhanced counternarcotics operation with an April 1 White House announcement and commitment of additional ships and aircraft from across the military and interagency.
Defense Secretary Mark Esper said that a dozen more ships and more than 15 additional aircraft are now operating in the region, which covers the Caribbean and Central and South America.
“Transnational criminal organizations have destroyed far too many American lives by smuggling heroin, cocaine, fentanyl, and methamphetamines into our country, leading to drug overdoses and addiction in our communities,” he said.
Opioid overdose deaths now outnumber the deaths related to automobile accidents in the U.S., added Associate Deputy Attorney General Amanda Liskamm.
“Venezuela is a narco-state”
In just over three months, the regional command has coordinated efforts with 22 regional partner nations to seize 120 tons of narcotics, robbing an estimated $2 billion in drug profits from traffickers.
Some of those profits would have benefited the regime of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, officials said.
“Venezuela is a narco-state,” said national security adviser Robert O’Brien, noting the recent indictment of Maduro and 14 Venezuelan government officials on drug trafficking charges.
“For years, Venezuela has flooded the United States with cocaine,” added O’Brien, who said that President Trump asks him almost daily about Venezuela.
Trump emphasized his commitment to the Venezuelan people even though his administration has been ineffective in spurring a leadership transition to Venezuelan constituent assembly president Juan Guaido since the U.S. and some 50 nations recognized him as the legitimate president of Venezuela more than a year ago.
Nonetheless, Trump nodded to O’Brien and said his measures were working: “We have it very well under control.”
Trump then fondly reflected on his connection to the area where he has a golf course and hotel, calling Doral by its nickname “Little Venezuela” for being home to thousands of exiled Venezuelans as well as Cuban American voters who may be decisive for him in November’s election.
“We’re going to be fighting for Venezuela, we’re going to be fighting for our friends from Cuba — they know that we have been doing that,” he said.
Southern Command’s Adm. Craig Faller, who recently spoke to the Washington Examiner about the enhanced narcotics operation, highlighted partner efforts, including Colombia and Brazil, who maintain high-level liaison officers at the command center.
“We’re going to stay at this mission,” Faller told Trump while noting that 70% of drug interdictions involve regional partners who have also increased their intelligence sharing with the U.S. “The resources that you’ve ordered have made that happen.”
