Trump considering plans to target cocaine facilities inside Venezuela, officials say

The world's largest aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford pictured in the eastern Mediterranean Sea in 2023. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered an aircraft carrier strike group currently stationed in Europe to the Caribbean region amid a massive buildup of US military forces in the region. (US Naval Forces Central Command/Reuters via CNN Newsource)

U.S. President Donald Trump is considering plans to target cocaine facilities and drug trafficking routes inside Venezuela, though he has not yet made a decision on whether to move forward with them, three U.S. officials told CNN.

The president has also not ruled out taking a diplomatic approach with Venezuela to stem the flow of drugs into the US, two officials said, even after the administration cut off active talks with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in recent weeks. Venezuela is not known to be a major source of cocaine, but the Trump administration has been aggressively trying to link Maduro to the drug trade.

And outward signs on Friday pointed toward a major potential military escalation, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordering the Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier strike group currently stationed in Europe to the Caribbean region amid a massive buildup of US forces there. Trump has also authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela.

“There are plans on the table that the president is considering” regarding operations on Venezuelan soil, one administration official told CNN, adding that “he hasn’t ruled out diplomacy.”

A second official, who has been directly involved in some of the discussions, argued that there are many proposals that have been suggested to the president. A third official said the planning is happening across the government, but the focus at the highest levels is currently going after the drugs inside Venezuela.

Trump has escalated his rhetoric on potential land strikes inside Venezuela in recent days, while the US military steadily carries out strikes on alleged drug boats in international waters. The latest was an overnight strike against a boat allegedly smuggling narcotics in the Caribbean, killing six and bringing the total number known of targeted boats to 10 and the number of people killed to 43 since the US began its campaign last month, according to Hegseth.

CNN has previously reported Trump has also been weighing strikes inside Venezuela itself as part of a broader strategy aimed at weakening Maduro, and Trump himself has mused publicly about operations on land. The president, however, has not yet made clear what that would entail, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio suggested drug “routes” might be targeted.

Some administration officials are pushing for regime change and say that the drug campaign could lead to the ouster of Maduro. That could happen by putting pressure on people around the Venezuelan leader who have benefitted from the cartels’ illicit revenue streams, potentially squeezing them so much that they consider ways to oust the Venezuelan leader, sources told CNN. Newly released video shows Maduro, in English, pleading for peace.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Venezuela is not a cocaine-producing country.

Almost all coca crops – the main ingredient of cocaine – are concentrated in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. An annual report from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) published in March did not mention Venezuela in the four pages dedicated to cocaine trafficking, citing instead Ecuador, Central America and Mexico.

But administration officials still say some drug trafficking does go through Venezuela and point out that Maduro was indicted in 2020 on federal charges of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine.

“Nicolás Maduro, is an indicted drug trafficker in the United States, and he’s a fugitive of American justice,” Rubio said on a trip to Ecuador in September.

Trump administration officials cautioned that the president is “not in a rush” — as one official put it — to make a decision, given his focus his currently trained on his trip to Asia and negotiations with Russia and Ukraine on ending their war.

While officials said Trump was open to finding a diplomatic solution, he also called off efforts earlier this month to engage in negotiations with Maduro and top Venezuelan officials that had been led by Richard Grenell, a special presidential envoy.

US officials also acknowledged that an aggressive operation on a target inside Venezuela would likely require congressional approval, or at least congressional briefings, before the administration could move forward.

On Thursday, Trump told CNN he could continue to launch strikes against alleged drug traffickers abroad without Congress first passing an official declaration of war. And while he said he would notify Congress about any operations on land, he contended he would not face any pushback.

“I’m not going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war,” he said. “I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. Okay? We’re going to kill them, you know, they’re going to be like, dead.”

The buildup of US forces has also raised questions about the Trump administration’s intent in the region. Pentagon press secretary Sean Parnell said in a statement posted on X that the move of the Gerald R. Ford strike group and its associated air wing was meant to “dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations and counter narco-terrorism.”

The Ford strike group docked near the harbor of Split, Croatia, on October 21. That would leave the carrier and its accompanying ships more than 5,000 miles from the Caribbean, meaning it would take days for the group to be in position to launch any strikes.

Even before the Ford’s arrival, a significant percentage of all deployed US naval assets globally had been relocated to US Southern Command, the US military’s command responsible for operations in the region, according to a fleet tracker published by the United States Naval Institute’s news portal.

That includes the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, amounting to more than 4,500 Marines and sailors, three guided-missile destroyers, an attack submarine, a special operations ship, a guided missile cruiser and P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft.

At the same time, the US has deployed 10 F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico, which has become a hub for the US military as part of the increased focus on the Caribbean. The US has also deployed at least three MQ-9 reaper drones to the island, according to images captured by Reuters in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico.

Naval Station Roosevelt Roads in Puerto Rico, a US military installation that had been shuttered since 2004, is also now back up and running, according to satellite imagery and photos taken at the base.