President Donald Trump says the United States will begin targeting Venezuelan drug trafficking “by land”, an escalation in tensions with Caracas, which accuses Washington of seeking to topple President Nicolas Maduro.
Trump made the comment in a Thanksgiving holiday video address to US forces, praising their role in deterring Venezuelan traffickers. “You really are the backbone of America’s airpower, and in recent weeks, you’ve been working to deter Venezuelan drug traffickers, of which there are many,” he said. “Of course, there aren’t too many coming in by sea any more. People aren’t wanting to be delivering by sea, and we’ll be starting to stop them by land also. The land is easier, but that’s going to start very soon. We warned them. Stop sending poison to our country. But we’re going to take care of that situation. We’re already doing a lot. We’ve almost stopped it. It’s about 85 percent stopped by sea.”
The announcement follows weeks of US military deployments to the region — including an aircraft carrier group, stealth fighters and thousands of troops — and a campaign of strikes on vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean. The US military has carried out more than 20 strikes on vessels since September, killing at least 83 people, according to reports. Legal experts and several Latin American governments have called the campaign extrajudicial and say many of those killed were fishermen. Washington has not publicly provided evidence that the targeted vessels were involved in drug trafficking.
Trump has previously warned of possible military action against sites in Venezuela and publicly alleged links between Maduro, senior Venezuelan officials and the drug trade. Caracas rejects those accusations, saying the drug-trafficking claims are a pretext for military intervention and “regime change.”
In a national broadcast, Maduro denied being intimidated by US threats. He said foreign forces had spent weeks threatening the region “under false and extravagant arguments that no one believes” and insisted Venezuelans were prepared “with imperturbable serenity to defend their homeland, their soil, their seas, their sky, their soul, and their history.”