Venezuela And America's Drug Problem

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                 

Caracus, Venezuela, the capital. :  The population of the Caracas metropolitan area is approximately 3 million to 5 million people, depending on the source and how "Caracas" is defined. The city proper's population is lower, with estimates around 1.9 million to 2.9 million people. For 2025, the metro area population is estimated to be around 3.015 million.   

The US is already fighting a war against Venezuela — in the form of drug traffickers and narco-terrorists, whose poisons kill more Americans in a year than died in Vietnam, Sen. Dave McCormick warned on Sunday. McCormick (R-Pa.) underscored the thousands of American deaths from drug traffickers while defending President Trump’s declaration Saturday that Venezuela airspace is closed — as ramped up pressure om the regime.  “We have a war that’s coming through fentanyl, through opioids, through cocaine. It killed 100,000 Americans last year. That’s twice the number of people that died in eight years of Vietnam — 4,000 Pennsylvanians,” he told “Fox News Sunday.”

The US began deploying Navy warships and personnel to the Caribbean in mid-August. Donald Trump announced on 2 September 2025 that the US Navy had carried out the first airstrike in the Caribbean on a boat from Venezuela, killing all 11 people on the vessel; he released a video of the incident, which Venezuelan sources said had occurred on 1 September. The next day, Pete Hegseth, the US secretary of defense, said military operations against drug cartels in Venezuela would continue and Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, suggested that similar strikes could follow. As of 16 November 2025, at least 83 people have been killed in 21 strikes on 22 vessels. (The US military has killed 83 people in strikes that have destroyed 22 boats as part of a campaign that Washington says is aimed at curtailing the flow of drugs into the United States. There had been three survivors of those strikes, two of whom were briefly detained by the US Navy before being returned to their home countries. The other is presumed dead after a search by the Mexican Navy.)

  Yes, Venezuelans are being deported from the U.S. due to the expiration of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), and the U.S. government has resumed direct repatriation flights for those lacking a legal basis to remain. Following the Supreme Court's ruling in October 2025, many Venezuelans lost their protections, putting them at risk of deportation unless they can secure a different legal status. Loss of TPS: The ending of the most recent TPS designation for Venezuelans is putting hundreds of thousands at risk of losing their legal status and facing deportation. Direct repatriations: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has resumed direct flights to Venezuela to deport individuals who are in the country without legal status.

We have been shooting at boats that may have drugs in them.  The US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has declared recent reporting that he may have illegally ordered all people to be killed in a military strike in the Caribbean as “fake news” on Friday evening, adding that the series of strikes of people on boats had been “lawful under both US and international law”.

Hegseth lambasted reports about his role in the strike as “fabricated, inflammatory and derogatory reporting to discredit our incredible warriors fighting to protect the homeland”.

The remarks came after a Washington Post report this week alleged that Hegseth ordered defense officials to “kill everybody” traveling on a boat that was being surveilled by analysts on 2 September, the first strike of many carried out in recent months by the Trump administration. The White House said – without proof – that the people in the boats in the Caribbean, killed in Pentagon operations, were drug smugglers.

Who are the people of Venezuela that are our enemy?  Venezuela's population is predominantly of mixed European, Indigenous, and African descent, with the mestizo population making up the largest group. Religious demographics are dominated by Roman Catholicism (71%), followed by Protestantism (17%), with a notable percentage of the population identifying as irreligious. Irreligious: About 8% of the population is irreligious.  Other Religions: Other faiths, such as Islam, Buddhism, and Judaism, account for the remaining 3%.Today, there are an estimated under 6,000 Jews living in Venezuela, a significant decrease from a peak of 25,000 in the 1990s. Many have emigrated due to the country's ongoing socioeconomic and humanitarian crisis. The remaining community is predominantly concentrated in Caracas.  Santería accounts for 1% ( an Afro-Caribbean religion that blends Yoruba beliefs with Roman Catholicism).

House and Senate committees launch inquiries into 2nd strike on alleged drug boat.  We usually don't aim and kill people in the water struggling for their life.  The USA does not do things like that.  

Why were any Jews  living in Venezuela?  The Sephardim Jews were the first, arriving about 1850.  They came from the West Indian areas.  Sephardic Jews moved to Venezuela around 1850 primarily to escape antisemitism and find economic opportunities, drawn by the new country's relative stability and religious freedom after its independence from Spain. They were also part of a larger migration from the Dutch Caribbean, particularly Curaçao, and some came from Morocco seeking to establish a life away from difficult conditions in their homelands. Religious freedom: The new Venezuelan constitution of 1819 called for religious freedom, which was a major draw for Jews seeking to practice their faith openly without fear of persecution, especially since the Inquisition had been abolished in the former Spanish colonies.  Migration from Curaçao: A significant wave of migration came from Curaçao, a neighboring Dutch colony with a well-established Sephardic community. Some Jews had strong ties to Venezuela from the wars of independence, where they had provided support to Simón Bolívar and his army.  Seeking refuge: The move was also a response to challenges in their home countries, such as antisemitic riots in Coro, Venezuela, which pushed some Jews to seek refuge in Curaçao and then later consider other options like returning to Venezuela once conditions improved. Some Jews from Morocco also arrived around this time seeking better opportunities.

Yes! There had been anti-Semitic outbreaks at Coro in 1855 and again in 1902. Coro is the capital of the Falcón state in northwestern Venezuela, founded in 1527. It is a historic city, the first capital of Venezuela, and a UNESCO World Heritage site known for its unique mix of Spanish, Dutch, and local architectural styles and its status as one of South America's oldest and best-preserved colonial towns. The city is also known as "La Ciudad de los Vientos" (The City of Winds) and has a rich cultural tradition.   

By the 20th century, eastern European and German Jews entered the country until barred after WWII.  That means they had been on the Axis side of the war, evidently.  

Jews played a leading role in developing the country's trade and in modernizing the capital of Caracas. 

Some 90% of Jewish youth attend Jewish schools. The reason why could be of a more concerned Jewish education was needed, or from anti- semitism, and maybe both.    

Resource:

https://www.ice.gov/news/releases/dhs-continues-direct-repatriations-venezuelan-nationals

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/house-senate-launch-inquiries-reported-second-strike-alleged-drug-boat-rcna246496

https://www.hadassah.org/story/the-jewish-community-of-venezuela

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Venezuela#:~:text=Since%20Hugo%20Ch%C3%A1vez%20took%20power,host%20a%20modest%20Jewish%20population.

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia