DONALD Trump has cut all diplomatic contact with Venezuela as America prepares to expand the war on drug cartels from sea to land.
The US president reportedly ordered his envoy Richard Grenell to cut all contact with Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro in a dramatic escalation between the two nations.
ReutersDonald Trump ended all diplomatic contact with Venezuela, escalating tensions between the nations[/caption]
AFPVenezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro called Trump’s moves a pretext for regime change[/caption]
Trump phoned Grenell himself last Thursday during a meeting with top military leaders and have the blunt directive, according to a New York Times report.
US officials told the paper the move reflects Trump’s frustration with what he sees as Maduro’s refusal to step aside and his alleged protection of narcotics traffickers.
According to reports, Maduro wrote Trump a letter in September in which he denied that Venezuela trafficked drugs.
He also offered to carry on negotiations with the United States through Grenell.
But Trump is not having it and has shut the door on any diplomacy with Caracas.
The break is the latest move in setting the stage for US military action – beyond the strikes already pounding cartel boats in the Caribbean.
In a recent Oval Office briefing, Trump told lawmakers the US is engaged in “a non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels.
The rare legal step gives the president sweeping wartime powers to strike, kill and detain cartel fighters without trial.
Trump has already framed the battle in warlike terms.
At Naval Station Norfolk, standing beside the carrier USS Harry S Truman, he boomed: “In recent weeks, the Navy has supported our mission to blow the cartel terrorists the hell out of the water… We did another one last night.”
Then came the hint of what’s next.
“They’re not coming in by sea any more, so now we’ll have to start looking about the land,” he warned.
According to reports, the US military is preparing to seize ports and airfields in Venezuela.
US planners now have enough firepower positioned to seize key ports and airfields if ordered, reported the Washington Examiner.
Off Venezuela’s coast sits a formidable armada: Navy warships and a submarine, ten F-35 Lightning II stealth jets, and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit — 2,200 Marines with Harrier jump jets, helicopters and armor.
And it comes as the Pentagon quietly builds a force big enough to grab and hold territory on Venezuelan soil.
AFPThe troops are reportedly preparing to eventually head to Venezuela[/caption]
AFPUS Marines unload from an Osprey V-22 aircraft in Puerto Rico[/caption]
ReutersF-35 fighter jets taxi on the runway at the former Roosevelt Roads military base in Ceiba, Puerto Rico[/caption]
US special operations forces have rehearsed parachute and airfield seizures in the Caribbean and Puerto Rico has become a forward base, with constant flights of troops and gear.
The pressure campaign follows a wave of lethal strikes at sea.
At least 17 suspected traffickers have been killed since September as US missiles ripped through boats moving narcotics towards American shores.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted footage of one precision strike and vowed: “These strikes will continue until the attacks on the American people are over.”
But Maduro is defiant.
The Venezuelan dictator — long accused by Washington of running a “narco-state” — insists the US wants regime change, not drug control.
He has thundered that America is plotting an “armed aggression to impose puppet governments,” claimed the US has “1,200 missiles pointed at our heads,” and accused Trump of trying to steal Venezuela’s oil and gold.
GettyMaduro says he has millions on troops ready to defend against the Americans[/caption]
AFPVenezuelan army tanks ride during a military exercise at a highway in Caracas[/caption]
AFPVenezuela has been training volunteer citizens to fight amid rising tensions with the US[/caption]
On Friday, Maduro said a “local terrorist group” had plotted to bomb the US embassy in Caracas, a claim analysts see as both warning and propaganda.
Trump’s latest executive orders have designated eight Latin American cartels as foreign terrorist organisations, giving the US new legal tools for strikes.
Javed Ali, a former senior counter-terrorism official, said the president could invoke Article II of the Constitution to justify unilateral action and even the War Powers Act to sustain it for 60 days without Congress.
The strategy has alarmed Democrats.
AFPUS Military forces conducting a strike on a boat carrying alleged drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea[/caption]
America’s military is preparing to seize ports and airfields in Venezuela
Sen. Jack Reed warned Trump is waging “a secret war against secret enemies, without the consent of Congress.”
Legal experts say the White House is stretching post-9/11 war powers to target groups that have not attacked US forces directly.
But Trump is betting Americans will back a president willing to go to war over fentanyl deaths and cartel violence.
“Stop selling fentanyl, narcotics, and illegal drugs in America,” he blasted on Truth Social.
“These terrorists are poisoning our people.”
Trump’s war on drugs?
By Harvey Geh, Foreign News Reporter
DONALD Trump has launched his full-scale war on drugs – favouring missiles over law enforcement.
The first day of Trump’s second term kicked off with the designation of narcotraffickers as terrorists – giving him the right to kill them before they can reach American shores.
This is the argument he has used in the face of law experts warning that his decision to strike a suspected drug-smuggling boat on Tuesday was illegal.
Washington-watchers claim that the gangsters should have been arrested – but the White House says that law enforcement is ineffective.
Trump vowed after the blitz: “There’s more where that came from.”
The US President has long spoken of his desire to enact force to take on drug cartels, which he accuses Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of actively backing.
Maduro has denied the allegations, and the last few months have seen teetering escalations deteriorate into a tense standoff.
The US has positioned naval destroyers and soldiers around Maduro’s waters, while the Venezuelan dictator has ordered mass mobilisation of troops.