Trump Says He’s Not Considering Military Strikes Inside Venezuela

President Donald Trump said on Oct. 31 that he isn’t considering carrying out airstrikes in Venezuela, disputing reports that the U.S. military had identified possible targets inside the South American nation.

“No. It’s not true,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One when asked about the possibility of strikes.

On Oct. 30, an article in the Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous administration officials, said that the U.S. military is looking into striking targets in Venezuela that may be used to smuggle drugs into the United States.

A White House spokeswoman told The Epoch Times on Friday that the “unnamed sources don’t know what they’re talking about,” and added that announcements relating to policy around Venezuela “would come directly from” Trump himself.

The United States has established a significant military presence in the Caribbean in recent months, comprising fighter jets, warships, and thousands of troops. That presence will significantly expand in the coming weeks with the arrival of the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier strike group.

Since September, the U.S. military has launched several strikes on vessels in the Caribbean Sea that officials say were carrying drugs to the United States.

“The land is going to be next,” Trump told reporters last week.

In August, the Trump administration doubled its reward to $50 million for information leading to Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro’s arrest, accusing him of links to drug trafficking and criminal groups. Meanwhile, Maduro has repeatedly alleged that the United States is aiming to drive him from power.

The State Department has announced rewards of up to $25 million for key figures in the Maduro regime, including Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López.

“You have a narco-state in Venezuela run by a cartel,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told reporters last week when he was asked about the military campaign.

“This is an operation against narco-terrorists, the al-Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere.”

Ongoing strikes against the alleged drug boats have raised alarm among some Democratic lawmakers who question whether the strikes adhere to the laws of war.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and other members of the administration, however, have said that the strikes are legitimate and described the individuals as terrorists.

In January, Trump signed an executive order designating some drug trafficking organizations, cartels, and two transnational gangs as foreign terrorist organizations. And earlier this month, Trump also confirmed reports that he authorized the CIA to carry out covert operations in Venezuela.

When asked why he authorized operations in Venezuela, Trump told reporters his reasons were the illegal migration of Venezuelans to the United States and drug trafficking.

“Number one, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America … they came in through the border. They came in because we had an open border,” he told reporters in the Oval Office. “And the other thing are drugs.”

The Pentagon also recently disclosed to Congress that Trump has determined that the United States is engaged in “a non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels.

Emel Akan and Reuters contributed to this report.