• Administration hardliners Stephen Miller and Marco Rubio are said to be pressing for military actions inside Venezuela, citing unproven counternarcotics claims.

By Andreína Chávez Alava

CARACAS, (venezuelanalysis ) – US president Donald Trump reaffirmed threats against Venezuela following deadly strikes on alleged drug boats, as top officials are reportedly pressuring for military strikes inside the South American country.

“We hit a number of boats [...] since we did that, we have absolutely no drugs coming into our country via water. Now we'll look at cartels,” Trump told reporters Tuesday.“We are going to look very seriously at cartels coming by land.”

In early September, Trump had also indicated the possibility of strikes within Venezuela's borders, while last week the White House said his administration was prepared to use“every element of American power” to stop alleged drug trafficking into US territory.

Trump's threats of escalation come amid reports that senior officials in his administration have been pushing for intensified military action to oust Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.

In September, US forces attacked at least three small vessels that officials say departed from Venezuela carrying US-bound drugs, killing 17 people. Washington has not presented any evidence to support the claims, and legal experts have criticised the strikes for violating international law and amounting to extrajudicial killings.

According to an exclusive report by The Guardian, strikes off Venezuela's coast have been coordinated through the Homeland Security Council (HSC) led by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller. The Trump hardliner has reportedly swayed the president to authorise the Homeland Security Task Forces, under the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), to spearhead probes and operations against suspected drug traffickers.

The White House's top adviser is the architect behind Trump's aggressive domestic anti-immigration policy, which has specifically targeted Venezuelan migrants , as well as the extraterritorial anti-narcotics efforts aimed at purported Caracas-tied cartels.

Miller's approach sidelines the National Security Council (NSC), the US Congress, and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), seemingly bending legal norms to target alleged drug boats and expand military operations in the Caribbean. The recent bombings have sparked strong criticism from a handful of Democratic senators due to unauthorised use of force.

On September 5, Miller told reporters that“a drug cartel is running Venezuela” and that“drugs and criminal aliens killing children [in the US] are coming from Maduro.” However, he did not cite any verifiable evidence.

Miller is said to be competing for influence with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a veteran regime-change advocate who has backed the US naval buildup in the Caribbean and has labelled president Maduro a“fugitive of American justice.”

According to the New York Times , Rubio, alongside Miller and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director John Ratcliffe, is currently shaping a“more aggressive strategy” against the Maduro government. This strategy involves escalating military pressure and potentially hitting alleged drug targets inside Venezuela in the next phase, though reports state that the White House has not yet authorised this escalation.

Since mid-August, at least eight warships, aircraft and an estimated 4,500 US troops have been deployed to the Southern Caribbean Sea on a purported anti-narcotics mission. Some reports have also mentioned a 2,200 marine force from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit.

The large military build-up and subsequent boat strikes follow unsubstantiated accusations against the Maduro government of leading drug trafficking organisations, with Washington raising a bounty for Maduro's capture to US $50 million. US officials have not provided court-tested evidence tying Venezuelan officials to alleged“narcoterrorism.”

Washington's case relies on the US Justice Department's 2020 indictment against the Venezuelan president and 14 other officials, with allegations that remain unproven in the court of law. The charges, delivered during Trump's first term, came at a time of a major diplomatic conflict with Venezuela, which saw the US recognise Juan Guaidó after he proclaimed himself“interim president” of the Caribbean country. Trump aides have used the indictment to claim that removing Maduro from power is a counternarcotics operation.

Washington has a long history of regime-change efforts against Venezuela. In 2002, a US-backed coup briefly ousted former president Hugo Chávez (1999-2013), while the first Trump administration backed an opposition-led“interim government” and imposed a“maximum pressure” campaign of harsh economic sanctions against Venezuela in an attempt to force Maduro from power.

At the recent United Nations General Assembly, Venezuela's Foreign Affairs Minister Yván Gil called the“narcoterrorism” allegations“perverse lies” intended to justify regime change and seize Venezuela's vast oil and gas resources.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) have found that Venezuela is not a drug-producing country and registers only marginal activity in global trafficking routes. The vast majority of the region's cocaine is produced in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia and sent to the US via Pacific routes.

Caracas has responded to the US military build-up by increasing border troop deployments and undertaking defensive military exercises. Maduro has prepared to declare a state of exception while also reaching out to the Trump administration, offering to resume dialogue via Special Envoy Richard Grenell.

The post Top Trump officials ramp up pressure for military strikes in Venezuela to oust Maduro appeared first on Caribbean News Global .

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