Cabello: US prioritizes military deployment in the Caribbean over attention to public health crisis

Published at: 07/11/2025 12:39 PM

The sectoral vice president for Politics, Citizen Security and Peace, Diosdado Cabello Rondón, has questioned the sending of U.S. military troops to the Caribbean, pointing out that resources are being allocated that could be used to address the public health crisis caused by drug use in North American territory.

“This deployment in the Caribbean costs at least 3 million dollars a day, or rather about 120,000 doses of Narcan (Naloxone) that could be used to save lives in the United States, doses that are spent every day at sea fighting an enemy that only they are inventing,” Cabello emphasized during the Congress Drug Use and Juvenile Delinquency: Justice with a Human Face.

Regarding the fight against drug trafficking, Cabello stated that Venezuela complies with its international commitments and that the United Nations (UN) reports do not mention the country as a producer or as a relevant transit territory. “Venezuela does not cultivate, process or export drugs,” he said.

Cabello said that only 5% of drugs produced in Colombia — the main producer country, according to international data — attempt to cross Venezuela.

“More than 50% of the drugs that, in theory, according to UN calculations should pass through Venezuela, have been held by the country's authorities, with detainees and those responsible,” he stressed.

He also complained that, while there are public distributors of marijuana in the United States, access to essential drugs, such as antibiotics, is limited. He highlighted that 87% of drug trafficking occurs through the Pacific, while reporting that this area is the DEA's business.

Mazo News Team