President Donald Trump suggested Thursday night that the U.S. could “very soon” begin targeting alleged Venezuelan drug traffickers on land, expanding operations that have so far focused on the Caribbean Sea.
In Thanksgiving remarks to U.S. troops around the world, Trump thanked the Air Force’s 7th Bomb Wing for its work to “deter Venezuelan drug traffickers” and said “it’s about 85% stopped by sea … and we’ll be starting to stop them by land.”
“Also, the land is easier, but that’s going to start very soon,” the president added, speaking from his Mar-a-Lago estate.
The comments come as Trump weighs whether to take military action against Venezuela as part of what his administration has called a campaign against drug trafficking. Senior U.S. military officials have also made recent visits to leaders in the Caribbean.
For months, the president has intensified U.S. military presence in the region, ramping up pressure on Venezuela with strikes on alleged drug boats since early September. The military has carried out nearly two dozen known strikes on vessels they said were carrying drugs, killing at least 82 people.
The USS Gerald R. Ford, a major aircraft carrier, arrived in the Caribbean last week, rounding out a buildup of U.S. military forces in the region that has not been seen for decades.
The U.S. last week also designated the Cartel de los Soles, a group Washington alleges is run by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, as a foreign terrorist organization.
Maduro has denied having any ties to the drug trade and has accused the U.S. of “fabricating” a war against him.
The moves by the Trump administration have raised both expectations and concerns of a possible strike inside Venezuela.
Yet even as he increases military pressure, Trump has said that he could still hold talks with Maduro, suggesting a possible diplomatic pathway to defuse the mounting tensions.
“I might talk to him,” Trump said aboard Air Force One this week. “We’ll see. We’re discussing this with different staff.”
Asked about the administration’s continued targeting of narco-traffickers on Monday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that “you can expect to see those strikes continue.”
NBC News previously reported that according to current and former U.S. law enforcement and military officials as well as narcotics experts, drug cartels operating vessels in the Caribbean are mainly moving cocaine from South America to Europe — not to the U.S.
During his remarks on Thursday, Trump also spoke with members of other military service groups, offering to take “any damn question you want.”
Military members praised him, told stories and asked questions about his presidency, with a Marine speaking from Camp Santiago, Puerto Rico, saying that his battalion was ready to support the president’s operation against narco-terrorists.
