Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

US and Colombia Do Military Exercises with Nuclear Submarine Near Venezuela, After Sending Warship Through Taiwan Strait
Benjamin Norton
08 Mar 2022
🖨️ Print Article
US and Colombia Do Military Exercises with Nuclear Submarine Near Venezuela, After Sending Warship Through Taiwan Strait
US and Colombia military exercises on February 27, 2022 (Photo credit: US Navy / public domain)

Events in Ukraine have not stopped the US drive for domination. Military exercises in the Caribbean and Taiwan show that the empire claims the whole world as a sphere of influence.

This article was originally published in Multipolarista.

While the world is fixated on the war in Ukraine, the United States is taking provocative military actions against Venezuela and China.

The US and Colombia held military exercises with a nuclear submarine in the Caribbean Sea, near Venezuela, just one day after Washington sent a warship through the Taiwan Strait.

Both Venezuela and China saw the US military moves as clear threats, condemning the actions as provocative.

On February 27 and 28, the US Navy held anti-submarine warfare exercises with the Colombian Navy.

Colombia's Ministry of Defense boasted that this was the first time they had done a military exercise with a nuclear submarine, the USS Minnesota.

US Southern Command (Southcom) shared photos of the exercises on its official Instagram account.

The Colombian Defense Ministry emphasized that the exercise highlighted the "interoperability between Colombia and the US."

The private intelligence firm Stratfor, which is popularly known as the "shadow CIA," noted that the US military exercises with Colombia were "within [the] scope of NATO."

Although the US-led military alliance is called the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, and the South American nation is decidedly not in the North Atlantic region, Colombia is a special "partner" of NATO. It is NATO's first and only "partner" in Latin America.

Washington and Bogotá claimed the exercises were aimed at fighting drug trafficking, but in reality Colombia's government is deeply linked to drug cartels, organized crime, and violent paramilitary groups.

Colombia's former president Álvaro Uribe, the most powerful politician in the country and a top ally of Washington, works closely with drug cartels and death squads. And Colombia's current, far-right president, Iván Duque, only came to power because Uribe ordered an infamous drug dealer, Ñeñe Hernández, to buy votes for him.

The Colombian Navy said it felt "proud" to collaborate with the US military and deepen their integration.

For its part, Venezuela recognized the US-Colombian military exercises near its borders with a nuclear submarine as a blatant threat.

Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino tweeted, "Why is there such imperialist flashiness? Is this a copy of NATO expansion in the Mediterranean of the Americas?"

"You don't battle drug trafficking, the war in Arauca [in Colombia], systematic murders and terrorist groups with nuclear submarines," he wrote. "I categorically reject this."

US sends warship through Taiwan Strait

Just one day before these US-Colombian naval exercises started, Washington threatened China by sending a large warship through the Taiwan Strait.

On February 26, the US Navy's guided-missile destroyer USS Ralph Johnson sailed through the narrow strait.

China condemned the exercise as "provocative."

"It is hypocritical and futile for the US to conduct this provocative action in an attempt to bolster the 'Taiwan independence' forces," the Chinese military said.

Beijing's Foreign Ministry spokesperson, Wang Wenbin, then added, "If the US wants to embolden the 'Taiwan independence' forces in this way, then we have this to say to the US: such move will only accelerate the demise of the 'Taiwan independence' forces."

"The US will also pay a heavy price for its adventurist act," he continued. "If the US tries to intimidate and pressure China in this way, then we have this stern warning: the so-called military deterrence will be reduced to scrap iron when facing the steely great wall of the 1.4 billion Chinese people."

 

Multipolarista is an independent news outlet documenting the transition to a multipolar world. Multipolarista is edited by journalist Benjamin Norton.

SOUTHCOM
Venezuela
Colombia
Taiwan

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


Related Stories

Orinoco Tribune
Colombia’s First National Strike Against De la Espriella Met With Police Crackdown
21 October 2026
Thousands of people took to the streets across Colombia on Wednesday in the first national strike against President Abelardo de la Espriella’s
Issa G Shivji
Positioning Pan-Africanism In The Geopolitical Turmoil
21 October 2026
As we are experiencing a world order in disorder, with war and conflagrations and a shifting balance of power, Issa Shivji calls for a Sovereig
Stephen Millies
Don’t Let Them Kill Cilia Flores!
14 October 2026
While Trump pardoned an actual drug lord president, he keeps a kidnapped Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife, First Combatant Ce
Abel Prieto
Venezuela: It Is What You See
30 September 2026
A photograph of Delcy Rodríguez smiling with Donald Trump after the U.S.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
The U.S. Determination to Achieve Full Spectrum Dominance is Not In Decline
23 September 2026
The trope of the United States being in a state of decline is a common one, but it should not be accepted without scrutiny. The U.S.
Jacqueline Luqman
The Perfect Victim Narrative Applied To Foreign Policy Only Keeps U.S. Imperialism Alive
23 September 2026
The demand to call out alleged crimes in Iran or Cuba while those countries face annihilation from the U.S.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
The Ultimate Betrayal of Alex Saab and the Fate of Nicolás Maduro and the Venezuelan People
16 September 2026
The United States got its hands on Alex Saab a second time in order to use him in its case against Nicolás Maduro. The U.S.
Luciano Vasapollo
Cuba Stands Firm, Venezuela Risks Losing its Sovereignty
09 September 2026
Cuba's leadership has chosen resistance over subordination as the blockade tightens, but Venezuela's sovereignty is being stripped away.
Black Alliance For Peace
Declaration of a Zone of Peace
26 August 2026
From the blockade of Cuba to the kidnapping of Venezuela's president, U.S.
Kimberly D. Miller
Beyond the "Delcyification" of Analysis
19 August 2026
Siege, survival, and the dialectics of Venezuelan sovereignty.

More Stories


  • BAR Book Forum: Nolan Cabrera’s “White Guys on Campus”
    Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor
    BAR Book Forum: Nolan Cabrera’s “White Guys on Campus”
    04 Dec 2019
    Cabrera’s book directly pushes against the notion that White racism only exists within “ignorant” White people or “rednecks” and “hillbillies.”
  • How to Commit War Crimes – and Get Away With It
    Vijay Prashad
    How to Commit War Crimes – and Get Away With It
    04 Dec 2019
    Not only should war crimes charges be brought against the US and UK, but these aggressor nations’ political leaders should face imprisonment.
  • Brown Privilege in Africa
    Zanga Chimombo
    Brown Privilege in Africa
    04 Dec 2019
    Inadequate attention seems to have been paid to the significance of racial miscegenation (or us “in-betweeners”) in the process of domination.
  • Ukrainian Roulette: The “Ukrainegate” Gamble
    Enzo Calandra
    Ukrainian Roulette: The “Ukrainegate” Gamble
    04 Dec 2019
    Liberals have enlisted the CIA to repudiate a clearly obscene and grotesque president because they themselves are obscene and grotesque in many of the same ways.
  • The Trials of Julian Assange
    review by Michael Steven Smith
    The Trials of Julian Assange
    04 Dec 2019
    A new book offers a sweeping defense of the imprisoned Wikileaks publisher.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us