United States President Donald Trump has said he is not considering strikes within Venezuela, appearing to contradict his own comments earlier this month, amid a major US military build-up in the region.
The US has now deployed fighter jets, warships and thousands of troops to the Caribbean, with the world’s largest warship, aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford, on its way towards the Venezuelan coast.
When asked by reporters on board Air Force One on Friday if media reports that he was considering strikes within Venezuela were true, Trump answered: “No.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio delivered the same message as he responded to an article in the Miami Herald that said Washington’s forces were poised to hit Venezuela.
“Your ‘sources’ claiming to have ‘knowledge of the situation’ tricked you into writing a fake story,” Rubio said in a post on X.
Trump’s brief response on Friday appeared to contrast with remarks he has made about Venezuela on at least two occasions earlier this month.
The US president said last week he would not “necessarily ask for a declaration of war” to proceed, saying: “I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. OK? We’re going to kill them.”
“Now they [drugs] are coming in by land … you know, the land is going to be next,” he added.
The US military has launched a string of strikes on vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since early September, killing at least 62 people and destroying 14 boats and a semi-submersible.
The Trump administration has said the attacks are targeting alleged drug smuggling, but has yet to present any evidence to the public to substantiate its claims.
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk decried the attacks “and their mounting human cost” as “unacceptable” in a statement on Friday.
“The US must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats, whatever the criminal conduct alleged against them,” Turk said.
Meanwhile, a new YouGov poll published on Friday found that fewer Americans approve of the US Navy’s presence around Venezuela than in September.
In the most recent poll, just 30 percent of people surveyed said that they strongly or somewhat approved of the naval deployment, while 37 percent disapprove.
By contrast, slightly more people, 36 percent, approved in September, while 38 percent disapproved.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has responded to the US escalation by accusing the US government of “fabricating a new eternal war” against him.
He has also denied the US claims about drugs.
“Venezuela is a country that does not produce cocaine leaves,” he said last week, while experts say that most drugs are smuggled into the US via the Mexican land border – by US citizens.
Trinidad and Tobago puts military on alert
Despite the comments by Trump and Rubio, Trinidad and Tobago, which neighbours Venezuela and has been hosting a US warship, put its military on alert on Friday and recalled all personnel to their bases.
Trinidadian forces have been placed on “STATE ONE ALERT LEVEL,” a message sent by the army said, according to the AFP news agency. Police said that “all leave is restricted” until further notice.
The Trinidad and Tobago Guardian newspaper also confirmed that soldiers had been ordered to report to duty.
On Tuesday, Venezuela suspended a major gas deal with neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago, citing the island nation’s reception of the USS Gravely US warship.
Trinidad and Tobago has said the warship was there for regular, planned joint military exercises with the United States.
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