The US is prepared to launch strikes on Venezuelan military bases as President Trump ramps up the pressure on the country’s narcoterrorist dictator, Nicolas Maduro, and the administration works to cut off the regime’s drug and criminal operations, The Post has learned.
The operation would aim to dismantle Maduro’s Cartel de los Soles command structure and target military installations that protect the Maduro regime’s drug trafficking activities, a source familiar with plans told The Post.
However, Trump on Friday told reporters on Air Force One that he had yet to make a decision on whether to pull the trigger.
US officials have accused Cartel de los Soles of trafficking roughly 500 tons of cocaine to the US and Europe annually, working alongside gangs like Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and other criminal syndicates.
Trump first deployed warships to the waters around Venezuela in August, starting with seven warships carrying 4,500 troops. That number has since grown to roughly 10,000 — and the addition of an aircraft carrier currently in route to the region.
“The president is prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters when the deployments were first announced.
Those troops have since killed more than 60 accused narcoterrorists in a series of 14 strikes on at least 14 drug boats, as of Friday.
While prior strikes in the region targeted the drug traffickers themselves, the potential attacks on land would be intended to take out the cartel’s hierarchy, according to the Miami Herald, which first reported the story.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has long criticized the Maduro regime, denied the Florida newspaper’s report that Trump had already made a decision on the strikes.
“Your ‘sources’ claiming to have ‘knowledge of the situation’ tricked you into writing a fake story,” he wrote in a post on X, referencing the Miami Herald.
It comes after the Pentagon has at least twice deployed B-52 bombers to fly near the coast of Venezuela over the past two weeks on “show of force” missions.
While such strikes could come at any time — and Trump has previously said land strikes are authorized — it would be unlikely for the US to carry out such an operation while few key officials are in Washington. --->READ MORE HERE
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| Sputnik via AP |
President Trump said on Friday that he's yet to make a final decision on launching a military attack on Venezuela, but President Nicolás Maduro is not waiting around while taking the US leader's word on it.
Maduro is reportedly urgently reaching out to Russia, China, and Iran for any possible military aid, including defense items which may have already been negotiated or are in the works. The Washington Post says it's obtained internal documents showing such recent and high-stakes requests.
"Amid a buildup of American forces in the Caribbean, Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro is reaching out to Russia, China and Iran to enhance its worn military capabilities and solicit assistance, requesting defensive radars, aircraft repairs and potentially missiles, according to internal U.S. government documents obtained by The Washington Post," the publication reports.
"The requests to Moscow were made in the form of a letter meant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and was intended to be delivered during a visit to the Russian capital by a senior aide this month," WaPo continues.
And separately, Maduro is said to have sent a formal letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping seeking "expanded military cooperation" between the two countries in order to counter "the escalation between the U.S. and Venezuela."
Maduro in it seeks to expedite Chinese companies' production of radar detection systems based on prior deals, in cooperation between Caracas and Beijing which has long been an open secret.
"In the missive, Maduro emphasized the seriousness of perceived U.S. aggression in the Caribbean, framing U.S. military action against Venezuela as action against China due to their shared ideology," the documents state according to the Post.
Transport Minister Ramón Celestino Velásquez is also reported to have sought military equipment from the Islamic Republic of Iran. He conveyed that his country needs-- --->READ MORE HERE
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