Washington, Dec 2. — The president of the United States, Donald Trump, warned this Tuesday that any country that produces and traffics drugs to the North American country 'is subject to attacks,' suggesting it could also include Colombia in the anti-narcotics land operations with which he threatens Venezuela. 'I have heard that Colombia, the country of Colombia, produces cocaine. But yes, anyone who does that and sells it to our country is subject to attacks, not necessarily just Venezuela,' Trump told the press during a meeting with his Cabinet at the White House. The head of state, who reiterated that attacks against drug cartels within Venezuelan territory will begin 'very soon,' insisted that although 'Venezuela has been worse than most,' there are other countries that also send 'their drug traffickers' to the US. Potential land attacks in Venezuela would mean an expansion of the 'Southern Lance' military operation, which from September to now has destroyed 21 vessels in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific, extrajudicially killing 82 alleged drug traffickers, according to a report from the Pentagon today. The US military deployment in Caribbean waters, one of the largest in recent decades, has increased pressure on the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whom Trump accuses of leading the dark 'Cartel of the Suns,' designated by Washington as a foreign terrorist organization. Last October, the republican also dedicated strong criticism to his Colombian counterpart, Gustavo Petro, whom he also points to as 'a leader of drug trafficking' and suspended US aid to that country for its alleged inaction in the fight against drugs. Petro denies the accusations and has called Trump 'rude and ignorant with Colombia.' He has also rejected as 'interference' the US military deployment and denounced the attacks against the supposed drug boats, some of them carried out in the eastern Pacific, near the Colombian coasts. Before his Cabinet, Trump again defended the legality of these operations and warned that the US has the right to defend itself from the 'wave of drugs' that the cartels send to its territory.
