DISINFO: The coronavirus infection on a US aircraft carrier jeopardises the invasion of Venezuela
SUMMARY
The situation of near-mutiny aboard the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, where 430 soldiers out of 2,000 tested positive for Covid-19, left a strategic hole in the Pacific to contain China, so it was replaced by the USS Harry S. Truman, which was itself in front of the coasts of Iran. This leaves the invasion of Venezuela pending. The invasion is being seriously challenged by US military leaders, but it would serve Donald Trump to win Texas and Florida in the November 2020 election, states that he needs to maintain at any price.
RESPONSE
Conspiracy theory not sustained by any evidence. The stated goal of the US naval anti-drug operation ashore Venezuela that triggered allegations about an eventual invasion is to nearly double the US counter-narcotics capacity in the Western Hemisphere. Experts pointed out that the military assets mobilised are consistent with that goal but not sufficient for a successful invasion, contrary to what is claimed. This is part of a recurrent Russian disinformation narrative about constant US plots to undermine Latin American governments. You can see many examples in our database, such as alleged plans to designate drug cartels as terrorist organisations as a cover for military control of Mexico, the next country in Washington’s destabilisation list after Bolivia; claims of a US plot to invade Mexico; an alleged CIA-led Twitter campaign and a hybrid war in Bolivia, the engineering of blackouts all over Latin America, the promotion of secessionism in Mexico or Venezuela, the training of Venezuelan exiles in Guyana for military operations inside the country, preparations for a military intervention in that country after forcing Brazil to join NATO or the existence of an alleged 'Operation Condor for the XXIst century'.