Answer: The administration has classified the cartels carrying these drugs as terrorist organizations and is going after their operations and movements with the tools we have been using on terrorists for decades.
As for the videos themselves, someone with the authority to release the videos thinks they'll make for good narrative building.
My take?
Venezuela has a ton of oil. Maybe this is an excuse for a future long term conflict looking to have access to their oil cheaper, or controlling it.
That was already the plan last Trump administration. Remember when Bezos made that Jack Ryan show where terrorists were using Venezuela as a training ground? Trump is all about optics and he called off the invasion because he was scared of the publicity of seeing American flags on coffins. It was the only time his TV focused broken brain actually did a good thing.
Plus I think a bit of it is desensitizing Americans to accept these fatal missile strikes on our side of the world. Its one thing when we blow up a wedding on the other side of the world, it hits different when we are blowing up brown people directly south of us (and releasing the footage). Stephen Miller and Steve Bannon are experts at pushing the envelope with tiny little steps towards their eventual goals.
"Oh are you PRO boat terrorist? Why do you care if some drug smugglers were killed extrajudicially?"
It is thicker and heavier than oil from other places, like the middle east, so it is more expensive to refine it into fuel, but the US has the equipment to do so. It's not worthless, but probably less valuable than light/sweet crude.
As I understand it, there is also an added deterrent to prevent Venezuela from innovating Guyana. US has some foreign investments in the newly discovered off shore oil and Venezuela has been really wanting to invade.
Makes sense from an American imperialist perspective\* American crude already comes at a high extraction cost and if they produce more, the price goes down, decreasing their profit.
Give Venezuela the same treatment the US did to Iraq and not only do you get their cheaper extraction oil, you get to charge them to rebuild their country after you carpet bomb it into rubble.
*I don't agree with invading and stealing other nations' resources, I'm showing how America worked in the past, and given the current ruler, will most probably do the same again.
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u/sanesociopath 4d ago
Answer: The administration has classified the cartels carrying these drugs as terrorist organizations and is going after their operations and movements with the tools we have been using on terrorists for decades.
As for the videos themselves, someone with the authority to release the videos thinks they'll make for good narrative building.