‘Latin America Is a Land Of Peace’

Colombian Foreign Minister Rosa Villavicencio said the deployment of U.S. troops off the Venezuelan coast is “disproportionate,” and that an “intervention is not possible because Latin America is a land of peace”

“There is no doubt that the region’s countries are committed to fighting drug-trafficking, but the presence is disproportionate,” Villavicencio said.

She had claimed last week that the Trump administration won’t carry out a military intervention in the country, and that she had reached the conclusion after speaking with U.S. officials, including ambassador John McNamara and U.S. lawmakers who recently visited the country.

“The press has created a narrative that is sowing confusion in the population. From the conversations we’ve had with the ambassador and U.S. lawmakers who visited the country over the past weeks we concluded there is no such intention,” Villavicencio said.

The most statement, however, took place before U.S. President Donald Trump said U.S. forces “shot out a drug-carrying boat” coming from Venezuela.

Speaking at the Oval Office on Tuesday, Trump said “we just literally shot out a drug-carrying boat.” “There were a lot of drugs on that boat. There’s more where that came from,” the president added. “They came from Venezuela.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio later confirmed the attack, detailing that the strike was lethal. “As POTUS just announced moments ago, today the U.S. military conducted a lethal strike in the southern Caribbean against a drug vessel which had departed from Venezuela and was being operated by a designated narco-terrorist organization,” Rubio said in a social media publication.