(NewsNation) — The U.S. military build in the Caribbean is continuing as President Donald Trump is reportedly weighing military strikes against drug cartels inside Venezuela.
A strike within Venezuela’s borders would escalate an already tense situation, and the possibility of strikes comes amid legal questions over the targeting of a suspected drug smuggling boat last week.
That attack killed nearly a dozen people on board, according to the Pentagon, but it’s still unclear whether those on the boat received any warning before the strike, which took place in international waters.
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In Venezuela, President Nicolás Maduro has now enlisted 25,000 of his own troops that he says will be deployed to the coastal areas of the country to handle cartel drug trafficking and crack down on it.
While the actions he’s taking sound like they are in line with what the U.S. is doing, it’s far from a sign of partnership.
Based on the rhetoric from Venezuelan leaders, the move is being made in defiance of what Maduro sees from the American side.
Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said, “No one is going to come in and do the work for us. No one is going to step on this land and tell us what we are supposed to do.”
That appears to be a reference to the U.S. Navy striking a suspected drug boat as the U.S. beefs up its presence off the coast of Venezuela.
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The U.S. currently has at least seven naval ships in the Caribbean, and 10 fighter jets have been deployed to Puerto Rico to beef up the American presence in the region.
The deployment of fighter jets came after two Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets flew over American ships.
Trump and several administration officials have accused the Maduro regime of, at best, looking the other way on drug cartel activity or, at worst, actually benefiting from and supporting it.
Both Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have also had some tough rhetoric, calling this a “war on drug cartels.”
Rubio even went as far as saying they would “blow things up” if necessary.
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Meanwhile, lawmakers in the House and Senate are asking to be briefed on the recent strike on a suspected drug vessel, with some raising questions about what authority the administration had to authorize that strike.
That briefing is currently scheduled for tomorrow.
