According to Cabello, the detainees confessed the shipment was part of a “false flag operation” designed to incriminate Venezuela in international drug trafficking and justify external aggression. “The four detainees are saying they work for the DEA,” Cabello told state television, calling the alleged plan a “maneuver for destabilization.”

Authorities said the boat originated in Colombia’s Guajira region and was connected to a trafficking group called “Los Orientales,” allegedly led by Gersio Parra Machado. Cabello argued that the operation demonstrated Venezuela’s commitment to combating narcotics without resorting to lethal force. “We don’t apply the death penalty,” he said, drawing a contrast with U.S. military strikes on alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean.

    • PapaStevesy@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      14 hours ago

      That assumes a level of competence the administration hiring and directing these “operatives” has failed to show again and again, I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if the agents in question are still teenagers.

      • Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        13 hours ago

        Okay sure, they are a bunch of idiots, yes men, and fascists. I’m happy to agree on that.

        But how would that even fit into the plans? They are currently just sinking drug ships and calling that a win, ignoring due process and international outcry like usual. They don’t need a false flag bust for that strategy, nor does it make sense to assume they’d suddenly use a more complex plan than “lob rocket uga buga” which has so far been the cleverest they came up with in terms of foreign policy.

        And then, assuming someone with some planing capability stuck around and actually came up with this international false flag drug smuggling operation for some indecipherable reason, why would they immediately after go back to brain-dead-mode and start sending a fresh-hire teenager to pose as a hardened Venezuelan smuggler?

  • HexadecimalSky@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    37
    ·
    1 day ago

    See, I could see this a ploy agianst the U.S.A. but also I could 1000% see the U.S. doing a false flag op like this…it wouldn’t nearly be the first time.

    We’ll have to wait a little bit and see if it becomes clear whos ploy this. Leaning towards a unhinged DEA op.