President Donald Trump has refused to rule out military strikes inside Venezuela as part of his administration\u2019s war on cartels linked to Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro\u2019s government, signaling a potential escalation against cartels and narco-terrorists in Latin America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The president previously declared a \u201cnon-international armed conflict\u201d with drug smugglers on September 30, informing lawmakers via memo after four fatal strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean since September. Several videos of military strikes on drug-trafficking boats have been released by the War Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cEarlier this morning, on President Trump\u2019s orders, I directed a lethal, kinetic strike on a narco-trafficking vessel affiliated with Designated Terrorist Organizations in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility,\u201d Hegseth announced in a social media post Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to the department, the most recent strike killed four narco-terrorists, and no U.S. forces were harmed in the operation. \u201cThe strike was conducted in international waters just off the coast of Venezuela while the vessel was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics \u2013 headed to America to poison our people,\u201d Hegseth announced in a post last week. \u201cOur intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route. These strikes will continue until the attacks on the American people are over!!!!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThe message is clear: if you traffic drugs toward our shores, we will stop you cold,\u201d Hegseth went on in a follow-up post. He added that the Joint Task Force aims to \u201ccrush the cartels, stop the poison, and keep America safe.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The U.S. Navy deployed guided missile destroyers to the Caribbean in August to bolster counter-narcotics efforts, with experts expecting rotations to continue for months or over a year. Bryan Clark, director of the Hudson Institute\u2019s Center for Defense Concepts and Technology, told Fox News Digital in September: \u201cI expect these deployments to continue for months or more than a year, with new ships rotating in to replace those that need to return home for maintenance or crew rest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trump\u2019s approach marks an unprecedented shift, involving the military against drug cartels in Latin America \u201cin a way that no previous US administration has dared to so far,\u201d according to Geoff Ramsey, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council. \u201cBy involving the military, the president is going after drug cartels in a way that no previous US administration has dared to so far. I think it is likely that we will see the Pentagon evaluate targets inside Venezuela,\u201d he told Fox News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that additional strikes could hit drug shipments or flights from covert airfields near the Colombian border. \u201cIt\u2019s a bad time to be posted in a guerrilla camp on the Colombian border or operating a Tren de Aragua safe house along the Caribbean trafficking route.\u201d However, Ramsey cautioned that strikes within Venezuela would require dismantling its air defense system, \u201cwhich would escalate hostilities by openly engaging with Venezuela\u2019s military.\u201d The U.S. has avoided targeting Venezuelan military assets, as evidenced when two Venezuelan F-16s flew over a U.S. destroyer last month without being \u201cblown out of the sky,\u201d Ramsey noted, suggesting no interest in a full shooting war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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