Officials in the newly-renamed Department of War are preparing plans for an attack on alleged drug traffickers inside Venezuela that could begin within a few weeks, according to a new report.
Information about the plans comes from four sources who spoke to NBC News. Those sources include two U.S. officials familiar with the actual plans and two others who are familiar with the discussions surrounding the plans.
If the plans are real and a strike does occur, it would mark a significant escalation with the South American nation. The Trump administration has already killed at least 17 Venezuelans on boats — under the justification that they are allegedly drug traffickers — in the last three weeks, according to the New York Times.
The sources said that President Donald Trump has yet to approve the planned attacks.
Another source speaking to the broadcaster said that the Trump administration believes Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro hasn’t done enough to stop drugs from entering the U.S. via Venezuela.
The plans reportedly call for U.S. drones to strike Venezuelan traffickers’ membership, leaders and drug labs.
The Independent has requested comment from the White House.
When NBC News requested comment from the White House, reporters were directed to Trump’s previous comments about a potential U.S. – Venezuela conflict.
“We’ll see what happens. Venezuela is sending us their gang members, their drug dealers and drugs. It’s not acceptable,” Trump said.
The U.S. and Venezuela are reportedly having discussions through Middle Eastern leaders acting as intermediaries. According to a senior administration official who spoke to NBC News, Maduro has reportedly spoken to the intermediaries about concessions he would make in order to retain his leadership position in Venezuela.
That official said that the president is “prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice.”
Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto told the United Nations that the U.S. has an “illegal and completely immoral military threat hanging over our heads.”
He went on to accuse the Trump administration of trying to start a war with Venezuela “to rob Venezuela’s immeasurable oil and gas wealth.”
Maduro has denied having any role in drug trafficking, and has characterized the U.S.’s sudden focus on drug trafficking as a flimsy pretense for trying to enact regime change.
In early September, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Maduro, who she accused of being “one of the most powerful drug traffickers in the world and a threat to [U.S.] national security.”
Pinto called the claims against Maduro and Venezuela “vulgar and perverse lies” intended to “justify an atrocious, extravagant and immoral multibillion-dollar military threat,” according to Al Jazeera.
The Trump administration has accused Maduro of trafficking drugs through an alleged group called the Cartel of the Suns, but there is debate among Latin America experts as to whether or not such a group even exists.
If Maduro is right and the Trump administration is trying to remove him power, it won’t be the first time Americans have tried.
In 2020, Operation Gideon — undertaken by a Venezuelan opposition faction and private-security firm Silvercorp USA mercenaries — attempted to remove Maduro from power and replace him with Popular Will politician Juan Guaido.
The operation was an overwhelming failure. Two American mercenaries — both former Green Berets — were captured alongside more than 80 Venezuelan dissidents.
