U.S. forces are massing around Venezuela on a scale that goes far beyond counternarcotics operations, the Washington Examiner reports.

It was reported in a US media outlet that the Pentagon sent a statement before the end of last week, declaring that the United States of America is engaged in a "non-international armed conflict" against drug cartels, which, as will be recalled, have been described by the White House's main tenant as "terrorist organizations" and their members as "illegal combatants."

This statement should not and cannot go unnoticed because it also coincides with aggressive reinforcements in the media arena.

Trump's supposedly "bureaucratic" nature fits into the perfidy of this "NO" international war, this event of "NO" invasion of an independent country that the Pentagon is mounting, originally urged by Mr. Rubio.

On the other hand, establishing that the US is in a "non-international armed conflict," according to experts on these matters, leaves the White House with a loophole to do what it's doing, including a "surgical" strike deep inside Venezuelan territory.

According to Article 1/Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution, Congress alone has the exclusive power to declare war. This provision was strengthened in 1973 by another legislative measure, the War Powers Resolution, which establishes that U.S. armed forces may not remain in combat outside the country for more than 60 days, with a 30-day extension to arrange their withdrawal.

It goes without saying that these constitutional provisions have been violated by the White House several times, without major consequences. This was the case, for example, when Clinton bombed Kosovo, and Obama did something similar against Libya. The last time was Trump himself, when last June, he pretended to attack the nonexistent Persian nuclear weapons plan.

The truth is that the war waged against Venezuela is generating resistance and questions within the US, including the deployment of Pirates of the Caribbean 2.0, the device anchored or prowling Puerto Rico and areas near Panama.

Of course, the killing of alleged drug traffickers before they could testify, who supposedly operated five or six drug boats, provokes particular outrage. Too many alleged cases that cannot cover up the extrajudicial killing of people, in clear violation of American, universal, and probably heavenly laws.

Statements against these murders and Mr. Rubio's war plans are being repeated in the Capitol in Washington, and also in other spaces of public opinion in the country, sufficiently overwhelmed by the deterioration of several socioeconomic indicators or the genocide in Gaza, degrading a supposed social consensus, always pertinent and useful, to develop any war adventure.

Consequently, President Petro's epic denunciation at the UN General Assembly stands out for its timeliness and vehemence, effectively calling the infamous attacks on small boats of unknown purpose, origin, and destination a heinous crime.

And the most sensitive opinion, the one that should generate the greatest concern among the US leadership, is the rejection by no less than 90% of Venezuelans of their country being invaded.

For all the above reasons, imperial strategists realize that it's not enough for Mr. Rubio to claim that Chavistas are narco-terrorists, so it's pertinent to strengthen the media side of this war, which has so far been unconventional.

Underlying this whole story with an uncertain ending is the very way the US government operates, whereby if something isn't on TV, and consequently on social media, it doesn't exist.

For example, Chief Trump doesn't seem to conceive of any idea that doesn't involve a level of publicity, turning the famous White House Oval Office into a sort of television set. It doesn't matter much whether he ends up revealing his intentions or whether he acts in a sincerely suicidal manner.

Thus, the imperial media action ranges from the moment the US president offers a pseudo-enigmatic response, "we'll see," he says when asked about his next steps regarding Venezuela, to the delirious statements of Mr. Rubio, or of the congressmen promoted by the Cuban-American mafia, who are busy posting images of military means deployed against the Bolivarians.

And to reinforce this brokerage, the ineffable The Washington Examiner appears, with a well-known history of supporting the most radical forms of imperial right-wing expression. With a powerful advertising campaign and replication on digital social media, the Examiner reveals details of the air-naval operation, apparently in the final stages of finalizing details, to carry out some kind of invasion of Venezuelan soil.

The aggression is being treated as a given, subject to a "mere formality." In other words, the operation to normalize it is already underway. To this end, experts are joining in, in the guise of psychological warfare, predicting an imminent defeat of the Bolivarian Revolution simply because, out of pure willpower.

And for anyone who still had any doubts, Chief Trump himself suggested, in front of disciplined marines celebrating the 250th anniversary of the Navy at the Norfolk Naval Station in Virginia, that since "there are no more drug ships in the Caribbean," they could move "counter-narcotics operations from the sea to land," without specifying which.

Meanwhile, in the real world, the Venezuelan authorities' complaint about the incursion of US gunships near their coast is making headlines, and President Maduro announces that they will take this situation to the UN, even though Mr. Rubio isn't interested in what is said there.

As expected, the Cuban government reiterates its solidarity with Caracas, refuting a perfidious campaign by the usual suspects, namely the counterrevolutionary group, who speculated on the quality of that support. The Cuban foreign minister warns that "a pretext for military action against Venezuela is brewing."

But Trump, the TV president, and his team face a far more serious problem, as it is difficult to concentrate all the media attention on a single issue, Venezuela in particular.

Amid the genuine turmoil unfolding in the rest of the world, beyond Washington, this anti-Venezuelan film seems almost absurd, not only because of the pathetic justifications for invading a country in Our America, but also because right now, Trump has several fronts open, some of them completely bellicose.

The war in Ukraine, with no sign of a solution, would end in 15 days, even less so if it involves cornering Russia once again; the peace plan for Gaza, which is difficult to predict, to use diplomatic language, because it's easy to see the pro-Israeli overtones of the proposal; or worse, the deployment of US military forces on US soil.

And the straw that could break the camel's back is the financial shutdown of the federal government, with countless consequences, just to mention those made public, such as the non-payment of salaries to hundreds of thousands of public employees (it is unclear whether this includes those who make up Pirates of the Caribbean 2.0), the closure of social services, and what could be another cumulative time bomb: massive layoffs.

Maybe, just maybe, Trump will tell Mr. Rubio, "I'm sorry, but Maduro must wait. We have plenty of higher-priority internal and external issues." If not, Venezuela is clearly prepared for any eventuality. Bolívar's sword awaits the invader, the same one that "runs across" Latin America, as the popular chant goes.