Donald Trump has not ruled out sending US troops to Venezuela, amid rising tensions. Photo / Getty Images
President Donald Trump says he will not rule out the possibility of sending United States troops into Venezuela, as a build-up of US forces in the region - and his increasingly combustible rhetoric - raises the prospect of military action there.
“I don’t rule out anything, we just have to take care of Venezuela,” Trump said when asked at a news conference about putting American personnel “on the ground” in Venezuela.
Trump’s remarks in the Oval Office appeared startlingly at odds with his claim Sunday night that the administration “may be having some discussions” with Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s strongman president, whom Trump has repeatedly vilified as an armada of US warships has been assembled in the Caribbean Sea in recent weeks.
Trump has accused Maduro of leading a narcotics organisation, the Cartel de los Soles, and said he is responsible for sending drugs and violent criminals to the US.
In his conversation with reporters late Sunday, Trump indicated that the Venezuelan leader “would like to talk” and that the US may be willing to listen, suggesting a diplomatic off-ramp may exist. Venezuela’s government did not reply to a request for comment about that claim, and it has not issued a statement in response.
Separately on Sunday, the State Department said it intends to designate Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organisation, effective November 24. The designation, which the administration has used for other Venezuelan groups, such as the Tren de Aragua gang, would raise pressure on Maduro by further financially isolating people connected to Cartel de los Soles.
High-level US officials, including Vice President JD Vance, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine, Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, have been holding discussions on whether and how to strike in Venezuela, The Washington Post reported last week, citing people familiar with the planning who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of the issue’s sensitivity.
Trump indicated Monday that he is open to carrying out military action in other Latin American countries where cartels operate, saying he would be okay with launching strikes in Mexico “to stop drugs” and that he would “be proud” to knock out “cocaine factories” in Colombia.
The US has had long-standing partnerships with both countries that have focused on disrupting the illicit drug trade. Those relationships have become strained, however, amid the Trump administration’s campaign of deadly military strikes against vessels suspected of hauling narcotics in the waters around Latin America.
Trump said in a televised briefing Sunday night that his administration has been communicating some of its thoughts on Venezuela with Congress, but that he does not “have to get their approval” to act.
“We like to keep Congress involved,” he said. “I mean, we’re stopping drug dealers and drugs from coming into our country.”
On Friday, Trump said he had “sort of made up my mind” about how he would proceed with the possibility of military action in Venezuela. Earlier in the day, an administration official told The Post that “a host of options” had been presented to the president.
Any strike on Venezuelan territory would upend the president’s past promises to avoid new conflicts and further complicate US ties with other Latin American countries. For some Latin American governments, the Trump administration’s recent actions in the region have revived memories of 20th-century US aggression, from military invasion and occupation to the covert overthrow of disfavored governments.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said last week that he was revoking intelligence sharing with the US while the boat strikes continued, in a significant blow to the Trump administration’s anti-narcotics operations in the region.
The Dominican Republic postponed the Summit of the Americas, a triennial gathering of Western Hemisphere leaders, after Trump withdrew, citing a scheduling conflict.
“Deep divisions … currently hinder productive dialogue,” the Dominican Foreign Ministry said.
The current buildup of US forces in the Caribbean includes about a dozen Navy warships, a Special Operations vessel and a nuclear-powered attack submarine. The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford recently arrived in the Caribbean, bringing three more warships and more than 4,000 additional troops into the fold.
US planning has raised the possibility, too, of involving the military’s elite Delta Force, according to people familiar with the matter. The highly trained Special Operations unit prepares for an array of capture-and-kill missions, and it saw frequent usage in two decades of US wars in the Middle East.
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