Secretary of State Marco Rubio has expanded his push for regime change in Venezuela to include cartel-linked targets in Colombia and Mexico, according to sources in the Trump administration and on Capitol Hill with knowledge of the unfolding situation.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth declined to say whether the U.S. is preparing military strikes on Venezuela, while blasting Democrats over the ongoing shutdown that has delayed the federal government from paying U.S. troops.
The planned attacks, first reported Thursday night by the Wall Street Journal, will seek to destroy military installations used by the drug-trafficking organization the U.S. says is headed by Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro and run by top members of his regime.
US War Department officials don’t know the identities of the 61 people who have been extra-judicially executed in US military strikes on boats in the waters near Venezuela and in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, POLITICO reported on Thursday, citing House Democrats who attended a classified briefing on the campaign.
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. military officials involved with President Donald Trump's expanding operations in Latin America have been asked to sign non-disclosure agreements, three U.S. officials say, a development that raises new questions about a military buildup that Venezuela fears may lead to an invasion.
The US military is deploying an aircraft carrier to the waters near South America as the Trump administration continues its military buildup in the Caribbean and its push toward war with Venezuela.
U.S. intelligence has assessed that little to none of the fentanyl trafficked to the United States is being produced in Venezuela, despite recent claims from the Trump administration, a senior U.S. official directly familiar with the matter tells Drop Site.
The U.S. flew Air Force B-1 bombers near Venezuela on Thursday, stepping up pressure on President Nicolás Maduro only days after other American warplanes carried out an “attack demonstration” near the South American country.
President Trump on Wednesday suggested that US strikes on alleged drug shipments “on land” could be coming soon amid the US bombing campaign targeting boats in Latin America.
US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced on Sunday that the US military bombed another boat in the Caribbean and killed three “terrorists,” marking the seventh known US strike on a vessel in the region since the bombing campaign began on September 2.
The head of US Southern Command, the military commander overseeing US escalations in the Caribbean and the push toward an attempt at regime change in Venezuela, is stepping down, the Pentagon announced on Thursday.
Venezuela’s autocrat had proposed allocating his country’s oil wealth and other natural resources to the U.S. and ending deals with American adversaries to appease President Trump.
The Trump administration is working on a strategy to “eliminate” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, according to a report from POLITICO’s National Security Daily.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said his security forces prevented a “false flag operation” to plant explosives at the United States Embassy in the capital Caracas in order to heighten tensions with Washington, amid a US military build-up off the coast of the Latin American country.
President Trump has called off efforts to reach a diplomatic agreement with Venezuela, according to U.S. officials, paving the way for a potential military escalation against drug traffickers or the government of Nicolás Maduro.
WASHINGTON — U.S. military officials are drawing up options to target drug traffickers inside Venezuela, and strikes within that country’s borders could potentially begin in a matter of weeks, four sources told NBC News.
