President Trump Announces Imminent Start of Land Operations Against Venezuelan Drug Traffickers
President Donald Trump announced on Thursday that the United States would “very soon” begin taking action against suspected Venezuelan drug traffickers on land, signaling a significant expansion of the administration’s aggressive counter-narcotics campaign. Speaking virtually to U.S. military service members on Thanksgiving Day, the President claimed that the ongoing maritime operations in the Caribbean and Pacific had become so successful that traffickers were now avoiding sea routes.
“You probably noticed that people aren’t wanting to be delivering by sea, and we’ll be starting to stop them by land also,” the President stated in his remarks. He added that the land-based interdiction efforts would begin “very soon” and that stopping them on land would be “easier.” The President used the opportunity to issue a direct warning to the Venezuelan government and associated criminal networks: “We warn them: Stop sending poison to our country.”
The anticipated land operations represent a major escalation of the current policy, which has been primarily focused on maritime strikes. Since early September, the U.S. military has deployed a significant presence—including warships, aircraft, and thousands of troops—to the region under what the Pentagon has termed Operation Southern Spear. This maritime campaign has involved numerous strikes on alleged drug boats, which the administration claims are operated by the Cartel de los Soles, a criminal network that the administration has recently designated as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and alleges is controlled by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his allies.
The President’s comments about imminent land action follow the designation of the Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization earlier this week. The designation, along with a previously authorized classified directive for the Central Intelligence Agency to conduct lethal covert operations in Venezuela, grants the administration a wide range of new legal and operational options for dealing with the alleged narco-terrorist threats. Legal experts, however, continue to debate whether the President possesses the legal authority to authorize ground or air strikes inside a sovereign nation like Venezuela without explicit authorization from the U.S. Congress.
