Rubio's Caribbean War

Unless Sanity & Decency Arise!!

Chart update courtesy of Forbes Media.

     This Iranian ship Fortune has now entered Venezuelan waters loaded with oil for Venezuela that defies U. S. sanctions and warnings. Four more Iranian oil-ladened ships are several days behind the Fortune.

     Venezuelan fighter planes like these hovered around the Fortune once it reached Venezuelan waters although U. S. planes and warships are also in the area.

     But the Fortune has already been welcomed to Venezuela and, at least for now, it is in peaceful waters.

     Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has a $15 million U. S. bounty on his head, said, "We don't know what the United States will do but we know what we have to do to survive. We need Iranian refined oil short-term and we need to upgrade our oil refineries to produce all the oil we need. The things we need to live are things we will fight for...to the end if it comes to that."

       This map shows that what some are calling Rubio's Cribbean War could still start in the next forty-eight hours. Six Iranian ships with oil bound for Venezuela are scheduled to be arriving in Venezuelan waters by Sunday or Monday, May 24th and 25th, in defiance of U. S. warnings and sanctions against both Venezuela and Iran. On the map you can follow the path of the five ships from Iran to Venezuela, with the Fortune in the lead followed by Forest, Petunla, Faxon, and Clavell. Fortune is dangerously close to a Venezuelan port now.

     Venezuela's Defense Minister, General Vladimir Padrino, repeated again this weekend that there will be war if the U. S. tries to block the passage of the Iranian ships. General Padrino said, "The United States, perhaps, has the power to starve us to death with sanctions and blockades and it, perhaps, has the military firepower to annihilate us. But we have international law on our side even if much of the world is too afraid of the United States to admit such things. If we or any country is not allowed to have consenting trade with another willing country, we must fight to preserve that right or we must meekly surrender and become a slave to the objective country. Venezuela, and I assume Iran, will choose to die fighting rather than to meekly surrender to any greedy and criminal nation that seeks to either make us slaves or to eviscerate us"

   If Indeed Rubio's Caribbean War starts in the waters off the northern coast of Venezuela, the first shots will likely be fired from the powerful U. S. naval force already patrolling the area or be fired by Venezuelan forces directed by General Padrino. If that happens, Iran's Nour News Agency reports this weekend that U. S. interests in the Middle East will quickly "be targeted with problems equal to or above the problems our ships will be facing in the waters off the Venezuela coasts." Like Venezuela, Iran is beset with massive domestic obstacles as well as stifling U. S.  sanctions. In other words, both nations are in dire and drastic shape, and their desperations are seemingly ready to boil over as the five Iranian oil ships near Venezuela ports. Ironically, Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the entire world, but the nation's refineries are in  bad shape. But Iran, also in defiance of U. S. sanctions and warnings, has recently flown 17 planeloads of engineers and equipment to Venezuela to repair the refineries so they can return to refining Venezuela's heavy crude oil into petrol. All the oil in the five Iranian ships would be USED UP in Venezuela within a few days but getting the refineries back in productive shape is, in the long run, even more important. General Padrino said this week, "The U. S. criminals are determined to make sure that we do not regain the capacity to refine our oil, and that fuels the U. S. determination to provoke war in the region."

     For weeks now the U. S. has had a powerful contingent of warships and planes, including these P-8 Poseidon vessels, in the waters off Venezuela. It appears this weekend that the words of Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino will be  the most important and germane words or actions, but there are others who have chimed in as well.

      Venezuela's Ambassador to the United Nations, Samuel Moncada, said, "If the United States blocks the Iranian ships from reaching Venezuela, it is an act of war."

       The President of Iran, Hassan Rouhani, said, "If the U. S. presents any problems to our ships now heading to Venezuela, there will be war. If the U. S. wants us to starve or to die, we deserve the right to die fighting."

       Speaking for the U. S. State Department, Morgan Ortagus,  a close Rubio ally, said, "Venezuela looted nine tons of gold to pay Iran for the oil." Ummmm...? Really?

    Powerfully supported by Miami and Washington as Venezuela's President, opposition leader Juan Guaido said, "Maduro looted nine tons of gold to pay Iran for the oil. And 17 illegal Iranian plane trips have landed in Venezuela with engineers and material to restore Venezuela's oil refineries."

      Miami's pick as Venezuela's President, Juan Guaido, needs Washington's help to oust President Nicolas Maduro as Venezuela's leader. And at the moment he has it.

    Miami's anti-Cuban Counter Revolutionaries believe that Maduro's removal and Guaido's takeover in Venezuela must TAKE PLACE before Donald Trump's first term as U. S. President ends. The next presidential election in the U. S., pitting Trump vs. Joe Biden, is fast approaching in November.

     From the beginning, Juan Guaido and the opposition forces in Venezuela have depended on Miami's and Little Havana's Marco Rubio as their U. S. conduit for desired regime-changes in Latin America. Rubio, of course, is blindly concerned with ANTI-Cuban/PRO-Miami regime-changes throughout Latin America. Guaido in Venezuela, of course, agrees with Rubio on that score. Americans might pay dearly for their agreement.

     And so...Rubio and his buddy Guaido are almost surely affixed on this map, or one like it, this weekend. If Rubio's Caribbean War starts in the next few days it likely be when the Iranian ship Fortune gets a little closer to Venezuela. As you can see above, it's almost there. Will a powderkeg or peace ensue?

     So far, for the past two years, Guaido and Rubio mostly used their Smart Phones to plot the regime-change in Venezuela. As the war now seems much more plausible, I think we can assume Guaido and Rubio will also monitor the results on their Smart Phones too. Meanwhile, of course, others will be fighting and paying for Rubio's Caribbean War. {Maybe for a long time}.

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