Since President Donald Trump took office in January 2025, the Trump administration has been extraordinarily focused on carrying out strikes against Venezuelan drug boats to deter drugs from entering the U.S. and putting American lives at risk.
The War Department has shared footage of strikes carried out by the U.S. military on boats carrying drugs in international waters.
On Wednesday, the president hinted at a drastic escalation in the ongoing U.S.-Venezuela conflict, noting that a war between both countries could break out “very soon.”
Trump has rebuked communist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who has pleaded with America for peace.
“Tell the people of the United States, no to war. We do not want war in the Caribbean or in South America,” Maduro said in October.
Despite the Venezuelan president’s remarks, the Trump administration has remained defiant in its mission to demolish the drug cartels.
While taking questions in the Oval Office yesterday, a reporter asked Trump about his administration’s plan to conduct airstrikes on land in Venezuela, as Trending Politics reported.
“I think you’re going to find that this is war,” Trump said, before noting that cartel leaders are responsible for the deaths of millions of Americans. “Last year, we lost close to 300,000 people were killed. That’s not mentioning all the families.”
“Very soon, we’re going to start doing it on land, too,” Trump added, referring to military strikes against drug cartels. “We know every route, we know every house, we know where they manufacture this crap.”
The president’s remarks come after his administration charged Maduro with narco-terrorism, corruption and drug trafficking, among other charges, in 2020.
In 2020, the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a statement accusing the Venezuelan president of partnering with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) to “flood” the U.S. with cocaine.
“The Venezuelan regime, once led by Nicolás Maduro Moros, remains plagued by criminality and corruption,” then-Attorney General Bill Barr said.
“For more than 20 years, Maduro and a number of high-ranking colleagues allegedly conspired with the FARC, causing tons of cocaine to enter and devastate American communities. Today’s announcement is focused on rooting out the extensive corruption within the Venezuelan government – a system constructed and controlled to enrich those at the highest levels of the government. The United States will not allow these corrupt Venezuelan officials to use the U.S. banking system to move their illicit proceeds from South America nor further their criminal schemes,” he added.
Today’s DOJ, run by Attorney General Pam Bondi, has a $50 million bounty for Maduro’s arrest.
While addressing reporters at the Oval Office, Trump emphasized the importance of the U.S. strikes on the drug boats, noting that each operation saves countless lives.
“Every boat we knock out, we save 25,000 American lives,” Trump told reporters.
