As the Trump administration escalates its pressure campaign on Venezuela, we speak with Cuban Deputy Foreign Minister Carlos Fernández de Cossío, who is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. In recent weeks, the U.S. has bombed multiple alleged Venezuelan “drug boats” at sea, killing at least 17 people without providing any clear evidence that they were involved in drug trafficking or linked to the government in Caracas. The U.S. has also increased its military footprint in the Caribbean and placed a $50 million bounty on President Nicolás Maduro for information leading to his arrest for narcotrafficking. The U.S. military presence in the Caribbean “is a threat to Venezuela and to the countries of the region,” says Fernández de Cossío. “There’s no real reason for that to be there, and the justification that they’re fighting drugs or organized crime is believed by no one. … They’re assassinating people for no reason.”