Above photo: Caribbean News Global.
The US is expected to bomb Venezuela with the goal of ousting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
President Trump on Wednesday suggested that US strikes on alleged drug shipments “on land” could be coming soon amid the US bombing campaign targeting boats in Latin America.
Trump has made similar comments before, and according to multiple media reports, the US is preparing to bomb Venezuela with the goal of ousting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and is using cracking down on drug trafficking as a pretext.
The president claimed to reporters at the White House that he had “legal authority” to launch the strikes, but Congress hasn’t authorized the bombing campaign, which the Constitution requires for launching a war. Trump said he may notify Congress of the plans to launch strikes on land targets, but didn’t say he would seek authorization.
“We will hit them very hard when they come in by land. And they haven’t experienced that yet, but now we’re totally prepared to do that. We’ll probably go back to Congress and explain exactly what we’re doing when [they] come to the land,” the president said.
The president previously told Congress that he believes the US is now in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels. Trump has framed the airstrikes as self-defense, pointing to the large numbers of drug overdoses in the US, but they are primarily caused by fentanyl and other synthetic opioids, which don’t come from Venezuela, something Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who has been very critical of the campaign, has pointed out.
“There is no fentanyl made in Venezuela. Not just a little bit, there’s none being made. These are outboard boats that, in order for them to get to Miami, would have to stop and refuel 20 times,” Paul told British journalist Piers Morgan this week.
“It’s all likely going to Trinidad and Tobago. There are a lot of reasons to be worried about this. Number one is the broader principle of when can you kill people indiscriminately when there’s war. That’s why when we declare war is supposed to be done by Congress. It’s not supposed to be done willy nilly. When there’s war you just kill people in the war zone, there are rules of engagement,” Paul added.
Since September 2, the US has bombed at least seven boats in the Caribbean and one in the eastern Pacific near Colombia, extrajudicially executing 34 people at sea, according to numbers released by the Trump administration, without providing evidence to back up its claims about the targets. Sources told The Washington Post on Wednesday that any US airstrikes in Venezuela would likely first target alleged trafficker encampments or clandestine airstrips, but regime change remains the ultimate goal.
“There really is no turning back unless Maduro is essentially not in power,” a person familiar with the administration’s deliberations told the Post.
The US has built up a significant force in the Caribbean and has flown heavy bombers and special operations forces helicopters near Venezuela, which officials say is part of a psychological campaign against Maduro. Leaks about the US preparing to launch airstrikes in Venezuela and Trump signing off on covert CIA operations inside the country are also part of the psyops aimed at Maduro and the Venezuelan people.
The US is hoping that by raising the bounty on Maduro’s head to $50 million and increasing the military pressure, someone in his inner circle will turn on him or he will step down voluntarily. But that is unlikely to happen, and the US continues to move toward a full-blown war with Venezuela.
US Bombs Boat It Claims Was Carrying Drugs in the Pacific Ocean, Marking Expansion of Campaign
The previous seven boats were targeted in the Caribbean.
The US military has carried out its eighth known strike on a boat it claimed, without providing evidence, was carrying drugs, but this time the vessel was bombed in the eastern Pacific Ocean, according to US War Secretary Pete Hegseth.
The previous seven boats were targeted in the Caribbean, and striking one in the Pacific marks an expansion of the US military campaign. US War Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed the strike killed two “narco-terrorists,” a term the administration uses to justify the extrajudicial executions at sea for an alleged crime that does not receive the death penalty in the US.
“Yesterday, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel being operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization and conducting narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific,” Hegseth wrote on X.
Today, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out yet another lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO). Yet again, the now-deceased terrorists were engaged in narco-trafficking in the Eastern Pacific.
The… pic.twitter.com/PEaKmakivD
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 23, 2025
“The vessel was known by our intelligence to be involved in illicit narcotics smuggling, was transiting along a known narco-trafficking transit route, and carrying narcotics. There were two narco-terrorists aboard the vessel during the strike, which was conducted in international waters. Both terrorists were killed and no US forces were harmed in this strike,” he added.
Hegseth didn’t say where exactly the boat was targeted, but a US official speaking to The New York Times said it was hit while off the coast of Colombia.
At least 34 people have been killed in the US bombing campaign since it started on September 2, according to numbers released by the administration. In several cases, family members have insisted that the victims were not drug traffickers, and Colombian President Gustavo Petro has accused the US of murder over a strike that killed a Colombian fisherman, he said had “no ties to the drug trade.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) has been very critical of the US bombing campaign, saying earlier this week that the strikes “go against all of our tradition.”
“When you kill someone, you should know, if you’re not at war, not in a declared war, you really need to know someone’s name at least,” Paul said. “You have to accuse them of something. You have to present evidence. So all of these people have been blown up without us knowing their name, without any evidence of a crime.”
US officials have been clear that the ultimate goal of the US military campaign in the Caribbean, which has involved a substantial buildup of US forces, is to carry out regime change in Venezuela. President Trump confirmed last week that he has authorized the CIA to take covert action inside Venezuela and that the US is considering attacks on Venezuelan territory.
