Padrino López: We have had no casualties in operations against drug trafficking

Published at: 08/09/2025 01:24 PM

In the operations carried out by the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) in recent days to combat drug trafficking, there have been no casualties in our military ranks, said Defense Minister G/J Vladimir Padrino López.

“In every operation we have carried out, we have had no casualties for our FANB, that says a lot about the training, the combat effectiveness of our men,” he said, while stressing that “it's no small thing” what is done daily against drug trafficking, even putting the lives of our uniformed personnel at risk.

In this regard, during a press conference held this Monday to take stock of the military operations being carried out in the country to combat drug trafficking, he said, recalling the words of Supreme Commander Hugo Chávez, that Venezuela is a victim of Colombian cartels dedicated to the production and trafficking of drugs.

“It seems that the imperialist media and the spokespersons of the right make Venezuela look as if it were part of the problem, as if armed groups born in Colombia were receiving shelter in Venezuela. We don't produce drugs, we're not consumers. Coca leaves are not cultivated in Venezuela, which is why we have an operation to determine the non-existence of this type of crop at our border,” he said.

In the same way, he repudiated the military deployment that the United States maintains in the Caribbean Sea, from where it has destroyers, drones and planes pointing threateningly at our country. “We are observing all this because here there is a people who are vigilant, alert, not scared, not afraid, are constantly alert to any situation that could threaten our physical security and sovereignty,” he emphasized.

In this regard, the senior military official called for the reconstruction and balance, geopolitically, of the world to strengthen the United Nations (UN).

Mazo News Team