Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth gave lawmakers details on Trump’s anti-drug campaign plans on Wednesday.
The Donald Trump Administration acknowledged before Congress that it cannot legally justify, at the moment, a future US attack on Venezuela and stated that for now they are not planning incursions into that territory as part of their military campaign against drug trafficking, media reported this Thursday.
The Secretaries of State, Marco Rubio, and of War, Pete Hegseth, gave details to legislators on Wednesday about the plans of Trump’s anti-drug campaign, which has ordered almost twenty attacks on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, where more than 60 people have died.
In the meeting, where members of the Department of Justice also participated, they specified that the “execution order” that began the anti-drug operation in international waters in September – near the coasts of Venezuela in the Caribbean and Colombia in the Pacific – does not extend to land targets.
But members of the US government did not rule out the possibility of military actions against cartel facilities and leaders within the Venezuelan country in the future, witnesses told CNN.
*Also read: Trump affirms that bombings against “terrorist cartels” are not limited only to Venezuela
Trump insisted that they are evaluating ground attacks, while intensifying the rhetoric against Nicolás Maduro, whom he accuses of “leading a drug trafficking network.”
In October, US media had already reported on an opinion from the Department of Justice to justify possible ground attacks against cartels, designated as international terrorist organizations by the Republican Administration.
According to a familiar source, cited by CNN, the document from the Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel includes a list of 24 criminal organizations based in Latin America that the Administration would be authorized to attack, although government officials are seeking other opinions that justify future incursions.
“What is true today may not be true tomorrow,” the source said, noting that Trump has not yet decided how he will address the situation in Venezuela.
In what specialists consider to be its largest maritime deployment since the first Persian Gulf War (1990-1991), the US maintains in Caribbean waters some eight warships – including six destroyers -, three amphibious ships and a submarine in the area.
The operation, which has provoked the rejection of Caracas, Bogotá and allies such as Brazil, Nicaragua and Cuba, also includes the sending of the nuclear aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, the largest and most modern in the US fleet, which this Tuesday passed through the Strait of Gibraltar, on its way to the Caribbean.
With information from the EFE agency
*Journalism in Venezuela is carried out in a hostile environment for the press with dozens of legal instruments in place to punish the word, especially the laws “against hate”, “against fascism” and “against the blockade.” This content was written taking into consideration the threats and limits that, consequently, have been imposed on the dissemination of information from within the country.
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