Former attorney general Bill Barr on Friday spoke in favor of President Donald Trump's strikes on Venezuelan drug boats and argued that U.S. intervention in the South American dictatorship could discourage neighboring states from working with Hezbollah and the Chinese Communist Party.
"Venezuela is a strategic adversary and a danger to the United States," Barr said on the podcast C.O.B. Tuesday. "They are a base for Hezbollah, they support Hezbollah, they're in all kinds of deals, money laundering and other deals, to help Hezbollah to facilitate their drug trafficking into the United States." He also described the country as Hezbollah's "anchor in our hemisphere."
Barr went on: "I believe the Chinese have a base of operations there and obviously are benefiting a lot from the oil. They're getting oil from Venezuela."
Barr's comments come as Trump has ordered strikes on Venezuelan drug ships and after U.S. forces last week seized a Venezuelan oil tanker en route to Asia. Trump has ordered a blockade on Venezuela intended to prevent oil from entering or leaving the socialist state, where Hezbollah operates with Iranian support, smuggling cocaine and other drugs to fund its Middle East operations.
"You have the power of the sovereign, to act against foreign threats, threats emanating from foreign sources," Barr said. "We do zap people with drones. That's the use of defense powers. We don't have to go and arrest them. And the same is true with international drug organizations and narco terrorist stuff, if they pose a national defense threat."
"We have always taken the position in the United States that we can use force to protect our vital national interests," Barr added.
If a U.S. use of force goes well in Venezuela, "I think ultimately it will help with a trend that I see developing in Latin America," said Barr—"to be allied with the United States, embrace our free market system, and stop playing footsies with the likes of Hezbollah and the Chinese Communist Party."
