President Trump said Tuesday his administration could attack accused drug traffickers who traverse Latin America by land “very soon,” which would mark an escalation in the U.S. military’s campaign of lethal strikes on alleged drug boats.
“We’re going to start doing those strikes on land, too,” Mr. Trump told reporters during a Cabinet meeting when asked about the administration’s strikes at sea. “You know, the land is much easier … And we know the routes they take. We know everything about them. We know where they live. We know where the bad ones live. And we’re going to start that very soon, too.”
Mr. Trump did not definitively say when or where any possible land strikes might take place.
Officials have discussed possible military operations in Venezuela in recent weeks, CBS News has previously reported, as the Trump administration accuses Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of working with drug cartels — a charge Maduro denies.
But Mr. Trump said Tuesday that land strikes would not necessarily be limited to Venezuela. He said any country where illicit drugs are produced or trafficked “is subject to attack,” and singled out neighboring Colombia, which the U.S. has accused of failing to control the drug trade.
The president has hinted for months that he may broaden his administration’s sea-based strikes to include accused drug targets on land, telling reporters in October that he is “totally prepared” to carry out land strikes.
Meanwhile, the U.S. military has built up its presence in the Caribbean, dispatching the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier to the region and sending F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico. And over the weekend, Mr. Trump said the airspace over Venezuela should be considered closed.
If the president takes the step of ordering strikes on targets within Latin American countries, it would significantly expand the Trump administration’s anti-drug trafficking operations, which have hit upward of 20 alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, killing more than 80 people.
Those boat strikes are already controversial. Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans have argued Mr. Trump is acting without legal authority and hasn’t provided enough evidence that the boats are carrying drugs. The administration has said the U.S. is in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels, which it has designated as terrorist groups.
And The Washington Post reported last week that the first boat attack, on Sept. 2, included a second strike to kill two survivors clinging to the vessel’s wreckage, which some lawmakers and experts argue could constitute a war crime. The White House confirmed there was a second strike, but maintained that the operation was legal.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, said Tuesday that any land attack “would be an act of war, and Congress would invoke the War Powers Act,” referring to the 1973 law that limits the president’s authority to make war without congressional authorization.
Efforts in Congress to limit Mr. Trump’s campaign have run into opposition so far. The Senate narrowly voted down a resolution last month that would have prevented any strikes against Venezuela without a declaration of war, with 49 senators — including two Republicans — voting in support. A month earlier, a vote to end the strikes on alleged drug boats also failed.
Land strikes would also likely face heavy pushback in Latin America. In response to Mr. Trump’s comments, Colombian President Gustavo Petro defended his government’s anti-narcotics efforts, but warned: “Do not threaten our sovereignty, because you will awaken the jaguar.”
Venezuelan officials have also accused the Trump administration of intimidating the country and seeking Maduro’s ouster. Mr. Trump has not said what his intentions are with Venezuela, but told reporters in mid-November he’s “sort of” made up his mind on how to proceed.