The Japan Times - Venezuela accuses US of waging 'undeclared war,' urges UN probe

Washington has deployed warships to international waters off Venezuela's coast, backed by F-35 fighters sent to Puerto Rico in what it calls an anti-drug operation.

"It is an undeclared war, and you can already see how people, whether or not they are drug traffickers, have been executed in the Caribbean Sea. Executed without the right to a defense," Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said as he attended a military exercise in response to the US "military threat."

Attorney General Tarek William Saab later added that "the use of missiles and nuclear weapons to murder defenseless fishermen on a small boat are crimes against humanity that must be investigated by the UN."

Foreign Minister Yvan Gil, for his part, took to Telegram to urge the UN Security Council "to demand the immediate halt of US military actions in the Caribbean Sea."

The biggest US naval deployment in the Caribbean in decades and the US strikes on alleged drug boats have stoked fears the United States is planning to attack Venezuelan territory.

On Wednesday, Venezuela launched three days of military exercises on its Caribbean island of La Orchila in response to the perceived threat from a US flotilla of seven ships and a nuclear-powered submarine.

La Orchila is close to the area where the United States intercepted and held a Venezuelan fishing vessel for eight hours over the weekend.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, whom the United States accuses of running a drug cartel, has urged citizens to join militia training to "defend the homeland."

Late Thursday, he announced that troops will provide residents of low-income neighborhoods with weapons training.

Maduro, for whom Washington has issued a $50 million bounty on drug trafficking charges, suspects the Donald Trump administration of planning an invasion in pursuit.

- 'Imperial plan' -

Trump says US forces have "knocked off" three boats crossing the Caribbean, but Washington has only provided details and video footage of two of the strikes that killed 14 people described as "narco-terrorists" by the US leader.

Washington says its operations are part of its war on drug trafficking and dismisses questions over the legality of the strikes in international waters.

Trump has sought to increase pressure on Maduro, whom the United States and much of the international community does not recognize as Venezuela's rightful president after two questioned re-elections.

Maduro accused the United States of hatching "an imperial plan for regime change and to impose a US puppet government... to come and steal our oil."

He has repeatedly vowed Caracas will exercise its "legitimate right to defend itself" against US aggression.

Opposition figure Henrique Capriles, a two-time presidential candidate an staunch Maduro critic, said Friday he would not support any US invasion.

"I continue to believe that the solution is not military, but political," he said.

Y.Ishikawa--JT