And it is part of a broader militaristic foreign policy adopted by the Trump administration, despite Trump’s ridiculous claims to be a great peace-maker. China and Venezuela also have a very high-level, formal strategic relationship – which would give any U.S. intervention huge global implications. The fantasy dreamed up by U.S. politicians and the corporate media is that President Maduro leads a drug trafficking operation called the “Cartel of the Suns”. This policy defines the Trump administration’s approach to relations with Latin America, and Venezuela is not the only target. The Trump administration has escalated economic warfare against the island to new heights of cruelty, causing widespread suffering among the people to punish them for daring to construct a socialist alternative.