The United States is strongly considering operations on land in Venezuela, President Donald Trump said Wednesday.
“We have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela, and a lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea, so you get to see that, but we’re going to stop them by land also,” Trump told reporters during a press conference.
Over the past several months, the administration has conducted missile strikes on what they claim are Venezuelan “speed boats” being used to traffic narcotics to the United States. Twenty-seven people have been killed, according to the administration. Some critics, including independent United Nations experts, have condemned the killings as extrajudicial.
“We’ve almost totally stopped it by sea,” Trump said. “Now we’ll stop it by land.”
The New York Times reported Wednesday that the Trump administration secretly authorized the CIA to conduct covert action in Venezuela.
The administration said it is engaged in a war on drug cartels, justifying action against Venezuela. Trump claimed that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is a “drug lord” who is intentionally flooding the U.S. with narcotics.
The New York Times reported that top Trump aides, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, are pushing for regime change in Venezuela — an effort that failed in Trump’s first term. The administration ended diplomacy with Venezuela earlier this month.
Asked if the CIA was authorized to “take out” Maduro, Trump refused to answer.
“I don’t want to answer a question like that,” he said. “Not really a ridiculous question, but wouldn’t it be a ridiculous question for me to answer?”