President Donald Trump has denied pursuing regime change in Venezuela, despite deploying a military presence off its coast and intensifying threats against the country’s leader, Nicolás Maduro.
“We’re not talking about that,” Trump stated to reporters on Friday, responding to questions about whether the U.S. intended to remove Maduro from power—an outcome he had previously .
The Trump Administration asserts its military expansion in the Caribbean targets drug cartels smuggling narcotics into the United States. The Pentagon executed its first strike on Tuesday, resulting in 11 fatalities on a vessel it claimed originated from Venezuela and was transporting drugs to the U.S.
However, Trump officials have progressively implicated Maduro as being allied with these cartels, sparking concerns that he might also be a target in the ongoing campaign.
Following the strike on the suspected cartel vessel, U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth referred to Maduro as “effectively a kingpin of a drug narco state” and advised the Venezuelan leader that he “should be worried.”
“The Maduro regime is not the legitimate government of Venezuela. It is a narco-terror cartel,” Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt informed reporters in August, addressing the regional troop deployment. She added, “[Trump] is prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice.”
Even prior to the increase of U.S. military forces in Venezuelan waters, the Trump Administration was escalating pressure on Maduro.
Attorney General Pam Bondi had already announced a reward of $50 million for intelligence resulting in Maduro’s arrest and had frozen up to $700 million in assets purportedly connected to him by Aug. 13, including luxury items, bank accounts, and private aircraft. The U.S. government does not acknowledge the validity of his last two electoral wins, and Trump on Friday again described Maduro’s January victory as “a very strange election to put it mild.”
In February, Trump classified Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang as a foreign terrorist organization, subsequently accusing Maduro of leading it. Maduro denies any association with the group and highlights his government’s actions in 2023 as evidence of his innocence.
Since the commencement of the anti-cartel operation, the U.S. has dispatched eight warships, an attack submarine, multiple surveillance aircraft, and thousands of American military personnel to the waters adjacent to Venezuela. The White House also announced Friday that 10 F-35 fighter jets are being deployed to Puerto Rico, following an incident where Venezuelan fighter jets approached a U.S. warship.
Trump has cautioned that if these fighter jets pose a threat to U.S. troops or “put us in a dangerous position, they’ll be shot down.”
Reports also suggest that the Trump Administration is contemplating attacks against drug cartels located within Venezuela itself.
Last month, the Venezuelan government marshaled over four million militia troops in response to U.S. naval deployments in the region, and this week, Maduro charged the U.S. with pursuing regime change in Venezuela.
“They are seeking a regime change through military threat,” he informed reporters on Monday.
He has warned that any U.S. military intervention would be met with “an armed fight,” and alleges that Secretary of State Marco Rubio is attempting to compel Trump into a conflict.
“Watch out, because Mr. Rubio wants to stain your hands with blood,” Maduro stated earlier this week, speaking to Trump directly.
During his 2024 presidential campaign, Trump vowed to dismantle the cartels “just as we took down ISIS and the ISIS caliphate,” further proclaiming: “We will show NO MERCY to the cartels.”
Experts have voiced doubts regarding the legality of both Trump’s classification of cartels as terror groups and the military actions.
Subsequent to the strike, Hegseth and Trump have made it clear that military operations against drug cartels, particularly those active in Venezuela, will not conclude with Tuesday’s attack and could mark the initiation of a broader campaign.
On Wednesday, Hegseth told Fox News, “We’ve got assets in the air, assets in the water, assets on ships, because this is a deadly serious mission for us, and it won’t, it won’t stop with just this strike.” He continued, “Anyone else trafficking in those waters who we know is a designated narco-terrorist will face the same fate.”
