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Land operations against Venezuelan drug traffickers will begin “very soon”, President Trump said on Thursday.
Trump made the announcement in a call to troops. He praised the Air Force’s 7th Bomb Wing for its role in deterring Venezuelan drug traffickers, noting they had intercepted around 75% of drug trafficking by sea.
“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 said.
“The land is easier, but that’s going to start very soon. We’d warn them. Stop sending poison to our country.”
The US has built up a significant military presence in the Caribbean in recent months, including fighter jets, warship and troops. An aircraft-carrier strike group was relocated from the Mediterranean to the area, and arrived at its destination.
The USS Gerald Ford and three destroyer escorts now join naval forces that include the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group and multiple warships.
Since September, around a dozen lethal strikes have been launched on vessels in the Caribbean and now the Pacific that were allegedly being used to smuggle drugs into the US.
President Trump has indicated that military action on land is coming; although he hasn’t specified where.
The main focus of the operation has been Venezuela, which the Trump administration has designated as a “narco-state,” placing a $50 million reward for information that will lead to the arrest of its president, Nicholas Maduro.
“You have a narco-state in Venezuela run by a cartel,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters last week when he was asked about the military campaign.
“This is an operation against narco-terrorists, the al-Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere.”
At the beginning of November, President Trump told reporters that there would be no military strikes inside Venezuela, in response to a Wall Street Journal report that land targets in the country were being considered.
According to the Journal, “The Trump administration has identified targets in Venezuela that include military facilities used to smuggle drugs, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter. If President Trump decides to move forward with airstrikes, they said, the targets would send a clear message to Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro that it is time to step down.
“While the president hasn’t made a final decision on ordering land strikes, the officials said a potential air campaign would focus on targets that sit at the nexus of the drug gangs and the Maduro regime. Trump and his senior aides have been particularly focused on unsettling Maduro as the U.S. military has attacked boats allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.
“The potential targets under consideration include ports and airports controlled by the military that are allegedly used to traffic drugs, including naval facilities and airstrips, according to one of the officials.”
This week, Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine, the highest-ranking officer in the US military, made a three-day visit to the US Southern Command area of responsibility, which includes the Caribbean, to meet with service members.
He also met with the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, islands close to Venezuela, to discuss regional security.
