Washington Wants War
This editorial by La Jornada’s editorial board originally appeared in the October 25, 2025 edition of La Jornada, Mexico’s premier left wing daily newspaper. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of Mexico Solidarity Media, or the Mexico Solidarity Project.
The Donald Trump administration is sending increasingly alarming signals about its determination to attack Venezuela in order to impose regime change and install a puppet administration, as well as to facilitate the rise or consolidation of the far right throughout the hemisphere through a combination of armed threats and economic extortion. Yesterday, the War Department announced the deployment of the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group and its embarked air wing to the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility—that is, northern South America. This entails the presence of the aircraft carrier itself, the 75 aircraft it carries, and the full range of necessary operations: three destroyers, a replenishment ship, a dry cargo ship, and a Coast Guard cutter. The Gerald R. Ford alone carries 4,600 military personnel, in addition to the crews of auxiliary vessels.
The argument that all these vessels are being deployed with the goal of “dismantling Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) and countering narco-terrorism in defense of the homeland” doesn’t stand up to the slightest scrutiny. First of all, they could be deployed off the US coast, thereby reducing the cost of maintaining long supply chains and avoiding any diplomatic friction. The thousands of soldiers embarked to murder 43 people and sink 10 boats in two months could have provided a much greater service to their homeland by monitoring land and airport customs, the true entry points for narcotics. First and foremost, instead of spending billions of dollars operating its fleets, Washington could gain vast resources by combating money laundering within its financial system, where its own authorities estimate that organized crime launders $300 billion annually. If “Transnational Criminal Organizations” were unable to collect and transfer the profits from their activities, they would be immediately paralyzed; but it’s clear that the White House cares neither about the health of its citizens nor about the legality of the money circulating through its banks and companies.
The bellicose tone of this escalation is so evident that even Brazilian President Luiz Inácio da Silva (who makes no secret of his animosity toward Nicolás Maduro) criticized the US bombing of boats in the Caribbean, stating that “if it becomes fashionable, everyone will believe they can invade someone else’s territory and do whatever they want,” thus turning the region into a lawless land. His special advisor and former Foreign Minister Celso Amorim warned that external intervention, whether armed or through intelligence services, is not the way to decide who will govern Venezuela, a problem that concerns only Venezuelans. He also warned of the danger of setting South America ablaze and leading to the radicalization of politics throughout the continent.
At the same time, Washington is making clear its longing to see the Colombian oligarchy back in power in Bogotá, always ready to follow its directives and make the Andean-Caribbean territory available to its troops and intelligence agencies. In this regard, yesterday, Trump’s followers escalated their attacks against President Gustavo Petro to the imposition of sanctions for “allowing drug cartels to flourish and refusing to halt this activity,” an accusation for which they presented no evidence, just as they do in their constant diatribes against Mexico, Venezuela, and other nations with governments jealous of their independence and sovereignty.
In South America, there is no war that justifies besieging the subcontinent with a series of attack and landing fleets, but it becomes increasingly clear that the White House is determined to start a conflagration, no matter how absurd its pretexts. The international community, and particularly Latin American and Caribbean societies, must close ranks in rejection of Trump’s intention to plunge the region into barbarism in order to divert attention from his own ineptitude and deliver huge amounts of money to the military-industrial complex, which seems to be the only sector whose prosperity interests the magnate.
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