• A report revealed that serious legal objections by the senior lawyer at SOUTHCOM concerning deadly strikes on boats were overruled.

By José Luis Granados Ceja

MEXICO CITY, (venezuelanalysis ) – Venezuelan interior minister Diosdado Cabello rejected a recent report that suggested ongoing negotiations with the United States could involve president Nicolás Maduro stepping down in two years, firmly denying any negotiations toward a transitional government.

According to sources consulted by the New York Times, the US reportedly rejected an offer that would have seen Maduro step down in an established timeline.

“They're falling for lies... they say [Maduro] offered them two more years and they believe this nonsense. They write it themselves and they believe it,” said Cabello during his weekly television program.“Nothing, absolutely nothing can put the Bolivarian Revolution at risk.”

US president Donald Trump recently talked about restarting negotiations with the Maduro government, after suspending talks earlier this year.

Maduro has openly expressed his support for dialogue with Washington but has nonetheless emphasised the defense of Venezuelan sovereignty.

“As for the imperialist North and its words and threats, that's their business, along with their criminal ambitions to colonise and conquer our America,” said Maduro Thursday during a visit to the community of Ojo de Agua, near Caracas.“Where are we headed? Never again, ever, a colony. Never again, ever.”

The White House's reported opening for talks comes amidst a growing US military buildup near Venezuelan territory, with the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group having arrived Tuesday in the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM)'s area of responsibility.

The Carrier Strike Group 12, which includes the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier, will add at least 4,000 military personnel, dozens of tactical aircraft, and destroyer ships to the existing US fleet already deployed to the Caribbean. The Trump administration claims the military buildup throughout the region is part of a counternarcotics mission to prevent drugs from reaching US territory.

Since August, Washington has amassed naval assets and thousands of troops in the Caribbean. US forces have bombed 22 vessels that US officials claimed were carrying US-bound drugs, killing 83 civilians in the process.

The US bombing campaign in the region has drawn heavy scrutiny, including from UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk, who condemned the US military actions, labeling them as“unacceptable” and calling for an investigation.

A report from NBC News revealed that Marine Colonel Paul Meagher, the senior judge advocate general (JAG) at SOUTHCOM, raised serious legal objections before deadly strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats began, warning they could amount to“extrajudicial killings.”

His concerns were reportedly overruled by higher-ranking officials, including at the Department of Justice. Ahead of a failed vote last week in the US Senate that sought to block the use of US armed forces against Venezuela without congressional authorisation, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel told lawmakers that the legal opinion the White House currently uses to justify strikes at sea does not extend to strikes on land.

Trump has suggested he has already decided whether or not to order strikes inside Venezuela, with outlets reporting that the US president has been presented with military options in recent days.

New reporting from the Times confirmed that Trump has signed off on CIA plans for covert action inside Venezuela. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Sunday that the so-called Cartel de los Soles will be designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) effective November 24.

The Trump administration has accused Caracas of playing a major role in international drug trafficking but has failed to produce any court-tested evidence to substantiate its claims.

Russia's deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov warned that Washington's unfounded accusations against Venezuela are turning the Caribbean into a new point of tension. In an interview for TASS news agency, Ryabkov argued that Washington is using a“completely artificial pretext,” insisting that counter-narcotics efforts should be pursued through other means and that charges against Venezuelan leaders lack a legal basis.

China publicly criticised the growing US military presence in Caribbean waters near Venezuela, calling it interference in the country's internal affairs. Foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning reaffirmed Beijing's support for CELAC's 2014 declaration defining Latin America and the Caribbean as a“zone of peace,” and stressed that China opposes any actions that violate the United Nations Charter or the sovereignty of other states.

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