Trump threatens imminent military strikes inside Venezuela, expands drug war rhetoric

Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that American military strikes against targets inside Venezuela will begin "very soon," according to reporting from CNN. Speaking during a cabinet meeting, the president said the operations would extend beyond the sea into Venezuelan territory. "We know where they live. We know where the bad guys are, and we're going to start this very soon," he stated. The warning came as part of a broader threat: any nation involved in selling drugs to the United States could face military attack, not just Venezuela.

The declaration marks an escalation of pressure that has already reshaped the Caribbean. The U.S. military presence has swelled to include more than 6,500 troops, an aircraft carrier, destroyers equipped with guided missiles, F-35 fighter jets, and a nuclear submarine. Over the past weeks, American forces have conducted more than twenty attacks on vessels that Washington says carry narcotics, resulting in at least 83 deaths. These operations fall under what officials call "Operation Southern Lance."

The threatened ground strikes follow a failed ultimatum delivered to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during a phone call last week. According to the New York Times, Trump gave Maduro a choice: leave the country immediately with his family and allies, or face military action. Trump confirmed the call on Sunday but offered no details, saying only that it "wasn't good or bad. It was a phone call." Two sources familiar with the conversation told the Miami Herald that the offer included safe passage if Maduro and his associates departed at once, with the goal of establishing a democratic government in Caracas. The deadline for this ultimatum expired on Friday, November 28.

Maduro's response revealed the impasse. According to Reuters, the Venezuelan president said he would consider leaving if he and his family received amnesty, the U.S. lifted sanctions, and cases against him at the International Criminal Court were dropped. He also requested that sanctions be removed from more than 100 government officials and that Vice President Delcy Rodríguez lead an interim government before new elections. On one point, however, Maduro refused to budge: he insisted that Venezuela's military remain under his control. That was unacceptable to Washington. The day after the deadline passed, Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that airlines should treat Venezuelan airspace as "completely closed," a directive that followed an earlier Federal Aviation Administration warning to avoid the region due to deteriorating security and increased military activity.

The military planning has accelerated in recent weeks. In late October, Trump revealed he had authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela, fueling speculation in Caracas that the U.S. aims to overthrow Maduro. Senior Pentagon officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine, have presented Trump with updated operational plans that include ground attacks on military installations allegedly connected to narcotrafficking. The U.S. accuses Maduro of leading the Cartel of the Soles and has offered a $50 million reward for information leading to his capture. Trump has also labeled Colombian President Gustavo Petro a "drug trafficking leader" and a "criminal."

Yet the legal and factual foundations for this escalation are contested. The United Nations has characterized the ongoing attacks as potential "extrajudicial executions," and Democratic lawmakers and legal experts have warned that the operations may violate international law. Trump's administration counters that the U.S. is already at war with Venezuelan narcoterrorist groups, making the strikes legitimate. Officials argue that lethal force is necessary because traditional law enforcement methods have failed to stem the flow of drugs into the country.

But the 2025 UN World Drug Report undermines the drug-war rationale. Fentanyl, the opioid responsible for most overdose deaths in the United States, originates in Mexico, not Venezuela—which plays almost no role in fentanyl production or smuggling. Cocaine, consumed by roughly 2 percent of Americans, comes primarily from Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru, not Venezuela. The data suggests that the military campaign, framed as a response to narcotrafficking, may be driven by other strategic objectives in the region. What comes next depends on whether Maduro remains in power and whether Trump follows through on his threat to launch ground operations—a move that could dramatically reshape the Caribbean and draw international condemnation.