Trump Authorized Military Operations on Foreign Soil to Target Latin American Cartels

[PAF]

by Kyle Anzalone
Aug 8, 2025


Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a $50 million bounty on the Venezuelan President Maduro and said the US was prepared to crack down on cartels

President Donald Trump has ordered the US military to take direct actions against Latin American cartels, including conducting operations on foreign soil. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has labeled Venezuelan President Maduro the leader of a cartel and is offering a $50 million reward for his capture.

The New York Times reports, “President Trump has secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels that his administration has deemed terrorist organizations.”

The Times adds, “The order provides an official basis for the possibility of direct military operations at sea and on foreign soil against cartels.”

Since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, the State and Treasury Departments have listed several Latin American cartels as Specially Designated Global Terrorists. The targeted gangs include Tren de Aragua (TdA), Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), and Cártel de Sinaloa. In July, Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns) was added to the list.

On Thursday, Rubio explained that placing cartels on the SDGT list allows for the use of “other elements of American power, intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, whatever, to target these groups if we have an opportunity to do it.”

He added, “We have to start treating them as armed terrorist organizations, not simply drug-dealing organizations.”

Secretary of State Rubio has claimed Venezuelan President Maduro is the leader of Cartel de los Soles. On Thursday, he said the State Department was offering a $50 million bounty on Maduro.

“The State Department and Department of Justice are increasing the reward for the arrest of dictator Nicolás Maduro to $50 million for violating U.S. anti-narcotics laws,” Rubio wrote on X. “Maduro is the leader of the ruthless Los Soles Cartel, a narcoterrorist organization that has taken over Venezuela. Maduro MUST be brought to justice.”

The Times report did not specify which countries might be targeted or what would happen if local troops resisted the foreign military operations on their soil. Black listed cartels are based in several Latin American countries, including Venezuela, El Salvador, and Mexico.

The Mexican government rejected a proposal from Trump earlier this year that would have allowed the US military to target cartels in Mexico. The Times notes the CIA is currently conducting surveillance flights over Mexico.

Congress has not authorized Trump to attack cartels, so any military actions would be unconstitutional. However, the President and Congress have long ignored the Constitutional process for war-making.



First Published at Antiwar.com

Trump Authorized Military Operations on Foreign Soil to Target Latin American Cartels | The Libertarian Institute

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced a $50 million bounty on the Venezuelan President Maduro and said the US was prepared to crack down on cartels President Donald Trump has ordered the US military to take direct actions against Latin American cartels, including conducting operations on...

libertarianinstitute.org

 

[jmdrake]

Trump confirms the CIA is conducting covert operations inside Venezuela​

Trump confirms the CIA is conducting covert operations inside Venezuela

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump confirmed Wednesday that he has authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela and said he was weighing carrying out land operations on the country.

afn.net

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump confirmed Wednesday that he has authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela and said he was weighing carrying out land operations on the country.

The acknowledgement of covert action in Venezuela by the U.S. spy agency comes after the U.S. military in recent weeks has carried out a series of deadly strikes on, what the administration argues, are drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean. U.S. forces have destroyed at least five boats since early September, killing 27 people, and four of those vessels originated from Venezuela.

Asked during an event in the Oval Office on Wednesday why he had authorized the CIA to take action in Venezuela, Trump affirmed he had made the move.

“I authorized for two reasons, really,” Trump replied. “No. 1, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America," he said. "And the other thing, the drugs, we have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela, and a lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea.”

Trump added the administration “is looking at land” as it considers further strikes in the region. He declined to say whether the CIA has authority to take action against President Nicolas Maduro.

Trump made the unusual acknowledgement of a CIA operation shortly after The New York Times published that the CIA had been authorized to carry out covert action in Venezuela.

Maduro pushes back​

On Wednesday, Maduro lashed out at the record of the U.S. spy agency in various conflicts around the world without directly addressing Trump’s comments about authorizing the CIA to carry out covert operations in Venezuela.

“No to regime change that reminds us so much of the (overthrows) in the failed eternal wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and so on,” Maduro said at a televised event of the National Council for Sovereignty and Peace, which is made up of representatives from various political, economic, academic and cultural sectors in Venezuela.

On Wednesday, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said while she supports cracking down on trafficking, the administration has gone too far.

“The Trump administration’s authorization of covert C.I.A. action, conducting lethal strikes on boats and hinting at land operations in Venezuela slides the United States closer to outright conflict with no transparency, oversight or apparent guardrails,” Shaheen said. "The American people deserve to know if the administration is leading the U.S. into another conflict, putting servicemembers at risk or pursuing a regime-change operation.”

Even as the U.S. military has carried out strikes on some vessels, the U.S. Coast Guard has continued with its typical practice of stopping boats and seizing drugs.

Trump on Wednesday explained away the action, saying the traditional approach hasn't worked.

“Because we’ve been doing that for 30 years, and it has been totally ineffective. They have faster boats,” he said. ”They’re world-class speedboats, but they’re not faster than missiles."

 

[GlennwaldSnowdenAssanged]

Thank God!

 

[acptulsa]

Three places with lots of natural gas: Ukraine, Gaza and Venezuela.

But that's just a coincidence, right?