U.S. poised to strike military targets in Venezuela in escalation against Maduro regime

[muriel_volestrangler]

7. "US targets Venezuela over 'Soles' cartel. Does it exist?" (spoiler: probably not)

While some of US President Donald Trump's right-wing led allies in South America -- Argentina, Ecuador and Paraguay -- have echoed his designation of "Soles" as a terrorist organization, many have doubts such a group even exists.

Venezuela itself, and neighbor Colombia, insist there is no such thing as "Cartel de los Soles."

Some experts agree, saying there is no evidence of the existence of an organized group with a defined hierarchy that goes by that name.
...
"There is no such thing, so Maduro can hardly be its boss," Phil Gunson, an analyst at the International Crisis Group think tank, told AFP of the so-called "Cartel de los Soles."

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20250828-us-targets-venezuela-over-soles-cartel-does-it-exist

Lawyers, Guns & Money point to this "license to kill" that Trump has awarded himself:

The administration has designated drug cartels as terrorist organizations while claiming Trump has inherent constitutional authority to order the strikes to defend the country against attacks. But as legal experts note, this gives Trump the power to unilaterally execute civilians who are not in any meaningful sense akin to terrorist groups or waging war against the United States, with zero due process. Meanwhile, lots of evidence casts doubt on whether some of these people were even trafficking drugs to the United States in the first place.

Smith said the official legal rationale—offered in this week’s Armed Services Committee briefing—has gotten even more troubling. He said administration officials claimed they now have the authority to bomb people who are merely “affiliated” with groups that Trump has designated as “narco-terrorists.” But under questioning, they refused to say what “affiliated” even means.

“They did not in any way, shape, manner, or form explain what the ceiling and floor are for ‘affiliated,’” Smith told me. “Theoretically, that could go beyond whether they’re in the actual action of moving drugs.”

https://newrepublic.com/article/202537/trump-boat-bombings-venezuela-alarm-bells

Searching around my memory for an equivalent in history, this popped up:

How a False Flag Sparked World War Two: The Gleiwitz Incident Explained

In the German press, reports appeared claiming that German nationals living in Poland had been subjected to torture. But something more eye-catching was needed to convince the world of Poland’s provocation.
...
This plan included an attack on the customs house at the then German border village of Hochlinden, in which six inmates from the Sachsenhausen concentration camp were dressed up in Polish uniforms and shot. A second similar operation was carried out against the Pitschen forestry lodge. But perhaps the most famous incident took place in Gleiwitz.
...
On the evening of 31 August 1939, a seven-man SS team stormed the transmitter station disguised as Polish insurgents. They pushed past the German staff, seized a microphone, and announced in Polish:

“Attention! This is Gliwice. The broadcasting station is in Polish hands.”

The day before, the SS team had arrested a 43-year-old unmarried German farmer named Franciszek Honiok. To complete their deception at Gleiwitz, the SS officers dressed Honiok in a Polish uniform, murdered him, and left his body at the entrance of the transmitter station.

https://www.historyhit.com/gleiwitz-incident-explained/