President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on Thursday that the United States will soon begin strikes to interdict narcotics shipments moving overland from Venezuela en route to the United States.
Trump said the move is necessary to protect American communities from the cartel-driven drug pipelines that Washington says have flourished under Nicolás Maduro’s collapsing socialist regime.
The announcement followed a surge in regional tensions after American forces seized a sanctioned Venezuelan oil tanker off the country’s coast Wednewday. -- a move officials described to Reuters as the largest maritime interdiction of its kind.
Federal security agencies told Reuters the vessel was tied to an illicit oil-moving scheme involving Venezuelan and Iranian networks that have long operated outside international law.
News outlets including CNBC reported that sources familiar with ongoing deliberations believe additional tankers may soon be seized in similar fashion as the administration intensifies pressure on Maduro’s shrinking oil trade.
Time magazine reported that the initial operation was conducted jointly by the FBI, Homeland Security, the Coast Guard and U.S. military personnel in a show of force designed to sever financial channels that sustain criminal groups across the hemisphere.
The planned overland strikes would build on a series of interdictions in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, where American forces have hit multiple vessels believed to be moving narcotics toward the United States, according to Reuters and the Associated Press.
As of the latest available reporting, at least 87 people have been killed in the U.S. military’s vessel interdiction campaign since the strikes began in September
Supporters of the president’s strategy say Trump is acting well within his constitutional authority and finally confronting drug cartels with the seriousness they deserve after years of half-measures from previous administrations.
Backers also argue the approach puts long-needed pressure on Maduro’s authoritarian government, which they say has become a willing conduit for traffickers who pose a direct threat to American families.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth told the Associated Press that cartel networks increasingly resemble terror groups and must be met with decisive action before they can reach U.S. shores.
Critics counter that most fentanyl entering the United States is sourced from Mexico and China rather than Venezuela, with NPR noting that analysts question whether South American operations will significantly cut the flow at all
Legal scholars cited by the Guardian warned that any strikes on land routes without explicit congressional authorization could raise war-powers concerns and spark international challenges.
Opponents in Congress have already introduced resolutions to curb Trump’s authority, arguing the operations could escalate into a broader regional conflict.
Maduro has pledged to resist what he calls foreign aggression, while Russian officials have criticized Washington’s posture, according to Reuters.
Supporters of the president say adversaries only understand strength and argue that Trump’s willingness to act sends a clear message that the days of America tolerating threats to its security are over.
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