(Adnkronos) – As tensions between the United States and Venezuela remain high following at least 15 military strikes since September against what the US claims are drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea, Italy on Monday called the situation “worrying”.
“The situation in Venezuela is worrying, it is clear that (Socialist president Nicolas Maduro) is in difficulty,” foreign minister Antonio Tajani said on the sidelines of a sports awards ceremony at the Olympic Stadium complex.
“We will see how the situation develops,” Tajani added.
At least 64 people have been killed over the past two months in the US military strikes in the Caribbean, which Venezuela has said are murder and whose legal justification is unclear.
US secretary for war Pete Hegseth announced the latest strike on Saturday, saying three people were killed and claiming the boat was operated by a unnamed US-designated terrorist organisation.
Hegseth said his department will treat the alleged narco-terrorists like the Islamist terror group Al-Qaeda and will continue “to track them, map them, hunt them, and kill them.”
The White House rhetoric and a US military build-up in the Caribbean region since September have raised questions about a possible armed conflict between the US and Venezuela.
US president Donald Trump has accused Maduro of heading an organised crime gang, while Maduro claims that Trump is seeking regime change.
In an interview on Sunday with CBS, Trump said he doubted the US would go to war with Venezuela, but suggested that Maduro’s days were numbered.
