In his «Con Maduro+” weekly program, the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro, harshly criticized the United States’ anti-drug policy, describing it as a «historic and systemic failure» that has only served as a pretext for military interventions in various parts of the world.
The Venezuelan president asserted that the American population is tired of his government’s military interventions, following the results observed in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, where, he claimed, the problems it promised to combat were not resolved:
«The so-called war on drugs has been, is, and will be a failure. They have sickened American society, and it is the society with the highest consumption of drugs of all kinds in the world,» as stated Maduro during his program.
Maduro questions military deployment in the Caribbean:
The Venezuelan president questioned the logic behind the US military deployment in the Caribbean, referring to a map previously shown by Minister Diosdado Cabello, which indicates that more than 80% of drug trafficking leaves through the Pacific, while only 5% passes through Venezuela:
«Why are you sending the fleet through the Caribbean, when all there is is 5%?» asked rhetorically the head of state.
Claimed Failure of Colombia Plan:
In a historical analysis, Maduro referred to the Colombia Plan, noting that this initiative, which he said invested more than $20 billion to combat drug trafficking and illicit crops, resulted in a «resounding failure»:
«Cocaine production has doubled, even tripled in the neighboring country”, stated the president, adding: «If they have seven military bases in Colombia, why has cocaine production tripled around all the military bases?»
Maduro compared the situation to that of Afghanistan, where—according to his statements—despite a twenty-year military occupation, opium and poppy production increased by 1,000 percent.