A day after the audacious US military operation in Venezuela, President Donald Trump renewed his calls for an American takeover of the Danish territory of Greenland for the sake of US security interests and threatened military action against Colombia for facilitating the global sale of cocaine, while his top diplomat declared the communist government in Cuba is “in a lot of trouble.”
Trump also went on to warn Mexico, saying the country “has to get their act together because [drugs are] pouring through Mexico and we’re going to have to do something.”
The comments from Trump and Secretary of State Marco Rubio after the ouster of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro underscore that the US administration is serious about taking a more expansive role in the Western Hemisphere.
With thinly veiled threats, Trump is rattling hemispheric friends and foes alike, spurring a pointed question around the globe: Who's next?
Concern is simmering in Cuba, one of Venezuela’s most important allies and trading partners, as Trump said that the Cuban economy, battered by years of a US embargo, is in tatters and will slide further now with the ouster of Maduro, who provided the Caribbean island with subsidized oil.
Trump also put Venezuela's neighbor, Colombia, and its leftist president, Gustavo Petro, on notice. Trump said Colombia is “run by a sick man who likes making cocaine and selling it to the United States.”
These nations have vast amounts of natural resources including mineral reserves Cuba and Greenland, precious metals in Mexico – the world's largest producer of silver – and coal-rich Colombia.
Meanwhile, Maduro was expected to appear in a New York court at 12pm yesterday (1am HK time today). Maduro, 63, faces narcotrafficking charges along with his wife, Cilia Flores, who was forcibly taken out of Caracas in the US assault on Saturday, in which commandos swooped in on helicopters, backed by fighter jets and naval forces, to capture the pair.
(Agencies)
