Trump Says U.S. to Begin Land Strikes on Drug Operations in Latin America
President Donald Trump said Friday the U.S. would begin land strikes targeting drug operations in Latin America, though he declined to specify timing, locations or what actions countries could take to avert military action.
“We knocked out 96% of the drugs coming in by water, and now we’re starting by land, and by land is a lot easier, and that’s going to start happening,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.
The statement follows a series of Pentagon strikes on vessels it described as drug-smuggling boats in international waters off South America. Trump has said for days he planned to expand operations beyond maritime targets.
Trump said Friday the land operations wouldn’t be limited to Venezuela, despite recent focus on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. “It doesn’t necessarily have to be Venezuela,” he said, adding that “people that are bringing in drugs to our country are targets.”
Trump compared the drug fight to combat operations, saying that if overdose deaths were counted like combat deaths, it would be “like a war that would be unparalleled.”
Maduro said earlier this week that if Venezuela came under foreign attack, the working class should mount a “general insurrectionary strike” and push for “an even more radical revolution.”
