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President donald trump He said he believes Venezuela is “feeling pressure” amid his administration’s war against alleged drug trafficking ships in the Caribbean, which has wiped out at least two vessels just last week.
Although Trump has said the attacks are aimed at stopping the entry of drugs into the United States, experts and some politicians say they have another purpose: to put pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to remove him from power.
“The Trump administration will likely attempt to force Maduro from office voluntarily through a series of diplomatic measures, and now military action and the threat thereof,” Brandan Buck, a foreign policy analyst at the Cato Institute, said in an email to Fox News Digital on Thursday. “Whether this constitutes ‘regime change’ or something else is a matter of semantics.”
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro gestures while holding a press conference, amid growing tensions with the United States over the deployment of American warships in the southern Caribbean and nearby waters. (Reuters)
The Trump administration has repeatedly said that it does not recognize Maduro as a legitimate head of state, but rather as the leader of a drug cartel. In August, the Trump administration increased the reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest to $50 million, labeling him “one of the largest drug traffickers in the world.”
The Trump administration has so far remained mum when asked about Maduro, and Trump declined to answer Wednesday when asked whether the CIA had the authority to “eliminate” Maduro.
However, Trump confirmed that he authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, after the New York Times reported Wednesday that he had approved the move. Trump told reporters that he did so because Venezuela had released prisoners in the United States and that drugs were coming to the United States from Venezuela through sea routes.
Additionally, Trump confirmed on Friday that Maduro offered to grant the United States access to Venezuelan oil and other natural resources, claiming that the Venezuelan leader did not want to “fuck” with the United States.
Still, these recent attacks are unlikely to greatly undermine the flow of drugs into the United States, according to Buck.
“Those attacks are more likely to be part of this incremental effort to dislodge Maduro than simply an effort to wage war against the cartels,” Buck said. “The Pacific and land routes through Mexico are considerably more prolific, and Venezuela itself is a relatively minor player, especially when it comes to fentanyl.”
The Trump administration has deployed maritime forces to confront drug threats and has beefed up naval assets in the Caribbean in recent months. For example, Trump has sent several US Navy guided missile destroyers to enhance the administration’s counternarcotics efforts in the region beginning in August.
TRUMP UNLEASHES US MILITARY POWER ON THE CARTELS. IS A BIGGER WAR COMING?
The United States killed six suspected drug traffickers on a ship in international waters near Venezuela, President Donald Trump announced on October 14, 2025. (realDonaldTrump/Truth Social)
Geoff Ramsey, senior fellow at the international affairs think tank Atlantic Council, said the Trump administration wants these additional forces to encourage the Venezuelan military to take matters into its own hands.
“What President Trump hopes is that this deployment signals to the Venezuelan military that they themselves must rise up against Maduro,” Ramsey said in an email Thursday to Fox News Digital. “The problem is that we haven’t seen this approach bear fruit in twenty years of trying. Maduro is terrible at governing, but good at keeping his top officials fat and happy while the people starve.”
“What is needed here is some kind of roadmap, or a plan for a transition, that can be more attractive to the ruling party and to those around Maduro, who might secretly want change but need to see a future for themselves in a democracy in Venezuela,” Ramsey said.
Meanwhile, the second Trump administration took a hardline approach to addressing the flow of drugs into the United States and designated Drug cartel groups such as Tren de Aragua, Sinaloa. and others as foreign terrorist organizations in February.
Additionally, the White House sent lawmakers a memo on September 30 informing them that the United States is now engaged in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug traffickers and has carried out at least six attacks against vessels off the coast of Venezuela. The United States captured survivors of Thursday’s most recent attack, the first involving survivors. At least 28 other people have died from previous attacks.
Lawmakers from both parties have expressed concerns about the legality of the attacks, and Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., introduced a war powers resolution in September to prohibit U.S. forces from engaging in “hostilities” against certain non-state organizations.
TRUMP PROMOTES US ATTACK WHILE MADURO BLAMES VENEZUELA’S MILITARY ‘THREAT’
Sens. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., pictured, and Tim Kaine, D-Va., introduced a war powers resolution in September to prohibit U.S. forces from engaging in “hostilities” against certain non-state organizations. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
The resolution failed in the Senate by a 51-48 margin on October 8, but Republicans Rand Paul of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska voted with their Democratic counterparts in favor of the resolution.
On Friday, Schiff, Kaine and Paul introduced another resolution on more limited war powers that would prevent the US military from engaging in “hostilities” specifically against Venezuela. Lawmakers said the resolution came in response to Trump’s comments about considering ground operations in Venezuela.
“The Trump administration has made clear that they can launch military actions within Venezuela’s borders and will not stop in the face of ship attacks in the Caribbean,” Schiff said in a statement Friday. “In recent weeks we have seen increasingly worrying movements and reports that undermine claims that this is simply about stopping drug traffickers. Congress has not authorized military force against Venezuela. And we must assert our authority to prevent the United States from being drawn—intentionally or accidentally—into an all-out war in South America.”
When asked about MPs’ concerns about the legality of the attacks, Trump dismissed them and said MPs were informed that the ships were carrying drugs.
“But they are given information that they were loaded with drugs,” Trump said Tuesday. “And that’s what matters. When they’re loaded with drugs, they’re easy prey. And every one of those boats were and they’re not boats, they’re boats.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
