President Donald Trump stated on Thursday that the United States is preparing to take new action against alleged drug trafficking networks in Venezuela. Speaking to service members during a Thanksgiving call, he indicated that operations targeting land routes would begin very soon.
Trump told the service members that they had recently been working to deter drug traffickers from Venezuela and noted that fewer traffickers were attempting to move drugs by sea. He added that the United States would soon begin efforts to stop them on land, which he described as an easier route to address. According to him, the message to traffickers is clear: they must stop sending harmful substances into the country.
His remarks suggest that he has settled on a strategy regarding Venezuela after several high-level briefings and increased military activity in the region earlier in the month. He recently designated Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his government allies as members of a foreign terrorist organization.
The designation, which applies to a group referred to as the Cartel de los Soles, allows Trump to impose new sanctions on Maduro’s assets and infrastructure. Experts note that the term refers more to allegedly corrupt officials than to a structured criminal cartel. The designation does not explicitly authorize the use of lethal force.
The United States has deployed more than a dozen warships and around fifteen thousand troops to the region as part of an operation targeting drug trafficking. More than eighty people have been killed in boat strikes carried out under this campaign.
Earlier in the month, administration officials informed lawmakers in a classified meeting that there were no current plans for strikes inside Venezuela and that there was no legal basis for targeting land sites at this time. They also said that the legal opinion justifying strikes on suspected drug boats does not extend to actions inside Venezuela or other territories.
However, officials did not entirely rule out future actions. The administration has largely avoided involving Congress in its military efforts in Latin America. A senior Justice Department official told lawmakers that the military could continue carrying out lethal strikes on suspected traffickers without congressional approval and that the administration was not obligated to follow a long-standing war powers law requiring greater cooperation with legislators.
