WASHINGTON, Oct 25 : US President Donald Trump is considering plans to target cocaine facilities and drug trafficking routes inside Venezuela, though is reportedly undecided on the course of action to take, three security officials told CNN.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s move to greenlight the deployment of the Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier strike group from Europe to the Caribbean, along with a strong buildup of troops, and Trump’s nod to the CIA to conduct covert ops in the Latin American nation, had all indicated towards a major military escalation against Caracas by Washington on Friday.
However, Trump has not ruled out diplomacy to tackle the issue of drug peddling into the US with Venezuelan authorities, even after Washington and Caracas had effectively cut off all communications with each other, amidst soaring diplomatic tensions, said to two officials.
Trump – who has been weighing military strikes against the country as part of his ‘counter-narco terrorism’ ops – has strongly escalated his rhetoric on potential land strikes inside Venezuela in recent days, while the US military has been targeting multiple Venezuelan vessels in international waters, all of which were allegedly drug smuggling ships.
The latest was an overnight strike against a boat allegedly smuggling narcotics in the Caribbean, killing six and bringing the total number known of targeted boats to 10 and the number of people killed to 43 since the US began its campaign last month, according to Hegseth.
Despite his heavy military preparations, Trump is said to “not to be in any hurry to make a decision” regarding the final course of action to be taken.
US officials also acknowledged that an aggressive operation on a target inside Venezuela would likely require congressional approval, or at least congressional briefings, before the administration could move forward, though the POTUS had earlier told the media agency that he was not looking for a “declaration of war,” but rather just wanted to “kill people bringing drugs to our country.”
UNI ANV
Washington, Oct 25 (UNI) US President Donald Trump is considering plans to target cocaine facilities and drug trafficking routes inside Venezuela, though he is reportedly undecided on the course of action to take, three security officials told CNN.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s move to greenlight the deployment of the Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier strike group from Europe to the Caribbean, along with a strong buildup of troops, and Trump’s nod to the CIA to conduct covert ops in the Latin American nation, had all indicated towards a major military escalation against Caracas by Washington on Friday.
However, Trump has not ruled out diplomacy to tackle the issue of drug peddling into the US with Venezuelan authorities, even after Washington and Caracas had effectively cut off all communications with each other, amidst soaring diplomatic tensions, said two officials.
Trump – who has been weighing military strikes against the country as part of his ‘counter-narco terrorism’ ops – has strongly escalated his rhetoric on potential land strikes inside Venezuela in recent days, while the US military has been targeting multiple Venezuelan vessels in international waters, all of which were allegedly drug smuggling ships.
The latest was an overnight strike against a boat allegedly smuggling narcotics in the Caribbean, killing six and bringing the total number known of targeted boats to 10 and the number of people killed to 43 since the US began its campaign last month, according to Hegseth.
Despite his heavy military preparations, Trump is said to “not to be in any hurry to make a decision” regarding the final course of action to be taken.
US officials also acknowledged that an aggressive operation on a target inside Venezuela would likely require congressional approval, or at least congressional briefings, before the administration could move forward, though the POTUS had earlier told the media agency that he was not looking for a “declaration of war,” but rather just wanted to “kill people bringing drugs to our country.”
UNI ANV SS
Washington, Oct 25 (UNI) US President Donald Trump is considering plans to target cocaine facilities and drug trafficking routes inside Venezuela, though is reportedly undecided on the course of action to take, three security officials told CNN.
Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth’s move to greenlight the deployment of the Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier strike group from Europe to the Caribbean, along with a strong buildup of troops, and Trump’s nod to the CIA to conduct covert ops in the Latin American nation, had all indicated towards a major military escalation against Caracas by Washington on Friday.
However, Trump has not ruled out diplomacy to tackle the issue of drug peddling into the US with Venezuelan authorities, even after Washington and Caracas had effectively cut off all communications with each other, amidst soaring diplomatic tensions, said to two officials.
Trump – who has been weighing military strikes against the country as part of his ‘counter-narco terrorism’ ops – has strongly escalated his rhetoric on potential land strikes inside Venezuela in recent days, while the US military has been targeting multiple Venezuelan vessels in international waters, all of which were allegedly drug smuggling ships.
The latest was an overnight strike against a boat allegedly smuggling narcotics in the Caribbean, killing six and bringing the total number known of targeted boats to 10 and the number of people killed to 43 since the US began its campaign last month, according to Hegseth.
Despite his heavy military preparations, Trump is said to “not to be in any hurry to make a decision” regarding the final course of action to be taken.
US officials also acknowledged that an aggressive operation on a target inside Venezuela would likely require congressional approval, or at least congressional briefings, before the administration could move forward, though the POTUS had earlier told the media agency that he was not looking for a “declaration of war,” but rather just wanted to “kill people bringing drugs to our country.”
(UNI)
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