Donald Trump Increases Military Strikes
Trump’s announcement comes after weeks of intensified U.S. military activity in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. According to available reports, U.S. forces have carried out at least 25 known strikes on vessels in international waters, resulting in the deaths of at least 95 people.
The Trump administration has defended the strikes as necessary to disrupt drug trafficking routes into the United States, arguing that the campaign has prevented large quantities of narcotics from reaching American shores. Critics, however, warn that the operations risk expanding beyond counter-narcotics efforts into an undeclared conflict.
Trump himself has hinted that the campaign may soon extend beyond the water. “We will move beyond the sea,” he has said in recent remarks, fueling concerns about potential strikes on Venezuelan territory.
Regime Change Questions and Political Fallout
While administration officials publicly frame the campaign as a counter-drug operation, Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles, suggested a broader objective in a Vanity Fair interview published Tuesday. Wiles said Trump “wants to keep on blowing boats up until Maduro cries uncle,” a remark widely interpreted as confirmation that the pressure campaign aims to oust Venezuela’s authoritarian leader.
