Western Media: Under the Guise of Rescue, Washington Achieves Long-Awaited Goal

Reference News Network reported on July 5 According to the Spanish newspaper "ABC" website on July 4, an unprecedented scene unfolded at the earthquake rescue site in Venezuela: the rescue team from the U.S. Southern Command has undeniable territorial jurisdiction here. They do not coordinate, only issue orders; they do not participate in collaboration, but fully dominate everything.

Recent photos that have gone viral on social media vividly illustrate the complete reversal of the situation in Venezuela. An unranked American civilian rescuer publicly disdains Venezuelan Interior Minister Reverol. If this had happened six months ago, such an act would have immediately led to imprisonment. Yet now, a foreign worker can speak contemptuously to this former number two figure in the Chávez regime and remain unharmed. This photo encapsulates everything happening in Venezuela right now.

The "Fort Lauderdale" amphibious dock landing ship is docked at La Guaira Port, serving as the maritime command center for the U.S. Southern Command, while the "Billings" littoral combat ship provides a helicopter landing platform for various military aircraft to take off and land. The air traffic control tower at Maiquetía International Airport is no longer under Venezuelan control; the U.S. Air Force fully manages the air routes. Major General Francis Donovan confirmed: the U.S. military has deployed a total of 2,000 personnel in the area, with 900 stationed on land, and drones continuously patrol the skies over the Caribbean.

The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III large transport aircraft is the core capacity of this aerial supply route, capable of carrying 77 tons of supplies in a single flight: one M1 Abrams main battle tank, three UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters, or an entire field hospital. On June 29 alone, six of these transport aircraft landed at Maiquetía Airport fully loaded with Marines. As of July 2, the total value of U.S. aid supplies has exceeded $300 million.

The Venezuelan military has been completely absent from frontline rescue efforts, and within just a few hours, the U.S. Southern Command filled the power vacuum. Marine Corps CH-47 Chinook heavy-lift helicopters and MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft shuttle through the skies transporting the injured, while local military camps remain silent. It was the same type of Chinook helicopter that landed at Tiuana Military Base in the early hours of January 3, taking Maduro away.

The people on the streets witness the regime change with mixed feelings. Zoe Cardenas, a member of the Maiquetía community council, stands in her cracked home, watching the continuous flow of U.S. military personnel and says, "It's hard to imagine that in the past we shouted anti-American slogans every day, and now we have to thank them, watching them come and go freely as if this were U.S. territory. We have completely lost control."

Ricardo Sucre Eredia, a political scholar at Central University of Venezuela and a former military officer, offers a more rational interpretation. In his view, the U.S. military presence in Maiquetía is not a military occupation, but a strategic pilot program. "The U.S. controls all decision-making hubs, airports, and ports, ensuring the flow of supplies," he explains, "The U.S. and the Venezuelan government have formed a division of labor, with the location of the field hospital jointly determined by both sides." Sucre denies speculation that the U.S. will establish traditional permanent military bases: "The traditional military base model is outdated. The U.S. is now using other means to exert influence, which has become a fact. The Venezuelan constitution explicitly prohibits foreign troops, but the U.S. may use this to legitimize a permanent presence." Goals that once required a coup to achieve can now be smoothly accomplished with just an earthquake and an aerial supply route.

Major General Donovan promised that U.S. troops would withdraw after the rescue work is fully completed. However, just a few dozen kilometers from Venezuela, on the Dutch autonomous territory of Curaçao, a U.S. facility initially designated as a temporary cooperative security outpost has been operating for 20 years. An anonymous insider from the Venezuelan military revealed that there is a high degree of consensus within the military: the Americans are not here to rescue disaster victims, but to stay permanently.

Under the undeniable guise of rescue, Washington has achieved a goal that years of sanctions could not: establishing a solid military presence in the heart of the Caribbean in Venezuela. (Translated by Han Chao)