Rubio identifies 'single most serious threat' to the US from Western Hemisphere

By Fox News · Fox News

Secretary of State Marco Rubio called transnational terrorist criminal organizations "the single most serious threat" to the U.S. coming from the Western Hemisphere. "When it comes to the Western Hemisphere, the single most serious threat to the United States from the Western Hemisphere is from transnational terrorist criminal groups primarily focused on narco-trafficking," Rubio told reporters Friday. He praised several nations, including Mexico, Ecuador, El Salvador, Panama, Costa Rica, Trinidad and the Dominican Republic, among others, for helping the U.S. combat the threat. The secretary also went on to slam nations he said not only refuse to cooperate with the U.S. but actively work with criminal elements, such as Venezuela. "There's one place that doesn't cooperate, and it's the illegitimate regime in Venezuela," Rubio said. "Not only did it not cooperate with us, they openly cooperate with terrorist and criminal elements . For example, they invite Hezbollah and Iran to operate from their territory." MADURO SINGS, DANCES AND THREATENS TO 'SMASH THE TEETH' OF THE 'NORTH AMERICAN EMPIRE' Rubio also said that Venezuela had been openly working with narco-trafficking elements that use the country as a transshipment point. "Our interest in Venezuela and in the region is the national interest of the United States. And in Venezuela we have an illegitimate regime that not only does not cooperate with the United States but only openly cooperates with narco-terrorists and others who threaten the national security of our country," Rubio later added. President Donald Trump has recently taken other actions against Venezuela. On Tuesday, he ordered a total blockade of oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela, declaring the Nicolás Maduro regime a foreign terrorist organization and accusing it of using stolen U.S. assets to finance terrorism, trafficking and other criminal activity. TRUMP TARGETS MADURO AS WESTERN HEMISPHERE BECOMES ‘FIRST LINE OF DEFENSE’ IN NEW STRATEGY "…