Venezuela announced on Monday the deployment of 15,000 security personnel along its border with Colombia to combat drug trafficking. Meanwhile, the United States accuses Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of running a criminal cartel. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello stated in a press conference that an ‘operational reinforcement’ was carried out in the Zulia and Táchira states on the Colombian border, deploying 15,000 men and women. Since the beginning of the year, 52.7 tons of drugs have been seized, representing between 70% and 80% of the total passing through Venezuela. The U.S. accuses Maduro and close officials of leading the ‘Los Soles’ cartel, listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. Washington has offered $50 million for information leading to Maduro’s arrest and $25 million for information leading to the arrest of Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello. Currently, three U.S.

missile-equipped destroyers are stationed in international waters off Venezuela, with Washington stating their intent to conduct operations against drug trafficking. Cabello questioned why the U.S. fleet is not deployed to combat 87% of drugs coming from Colombia, instead focusing on 5%. Colombia is the world’s largest cocaine producer, with a record production of approximately 2,600 tons of cocaine hydrochloride in 2023, a 53% increase from the previous year, according to the United Nations. The area of coca cultivation also increased by 10% to 253,000 hectares of illicit crops in the same year.