There have been many reports from people in the know that Nicolás Maduro is barely holding on by a thread in Venezuela in recent months. Over the last few weeks, numerous countries have joined the United States in putting pressure on the illegitimate president. Not only is he essentially running the country via his Cartel de los Soles, but he's also sending thugs and criminals, including members of Tren de Aragua, into the United States and other Western nations in an attempt to destabilize us.
As we all know now, the Donald Trump administration has sent an "unprecedented amount" of U.S. military warships and other vehicles to the southern Caribbean Sea near Venezuela's border, most likely to intimidate Maduro and combat cartel activity. Earlier this week, the president announced and others in the cabinet confirmed that we had taken out a cartel boat shipping drugs from Venezuela, killing 11 members of Tren de Aragua.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said during his trip to Latin America this week that it will happen again.
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Rumors are rampant that Maduro is planning his escape to Nicaragua, but he's not going down without a fight. Well, at least, he's not going down without pretending to fight. On Thursday, Venezuela flew two of the regime's aircraft near one of our warships. The Department of Defense — soon to be the Department of War — immediately confirmed the information and put out a warning to Maduro: "The cartel running Venezuela is strongly advised not to pursue any further effort to obstruct, deter, or interfere with counter-narcotics or counter-terror operations carried out by the U.S. military."
But the Pentagon didn't just reply with strongly worded language. Multiple sources have reported today that it's sending 10 F-35 fighter planes to Puerto Rico as part of its ramped-up plans to combat cartels and, I assume, to also intimidate Maduro and his cronies specifically.
Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-Fla.) seemingly confirmed the information on X.
Related: Maduro Learns That Where There's Smoke, There's Fire
It's still unclear as to whether or not the U.S. would actually take military action on Venezuelan soil in the near future, but the Trump administration isn't holding back on cartel activity in general. As Rubio said earlier this week, the U.S. tried for years to simply stop the drug boats, but interdiction doesn't work with these guys.
"What will stop them is when you blow them up, when you get rid of them," he said. He also said that under President Trump, cartels will not keep flooding our country with "poison," claiming "those days are over."
The next day, in Ecuador, Rubio reminded the MSM, who largely side with the United Nations over the United States on such matters, that Maduro is a wanted man in the U.S. Don't forget, there is currently a $50 million bounty on his head. Not only is he a U.S. fugitive, but he's also the leader of a cartel that stole the election in Venezuela last year and is essentially holding the country hostage, creating a worsening humanitarian crisis. He views the United States as his enemy. His mere presence has impacted every single country in North and South America in one way or another, and that's why even some who once supported him have turned their backs on him.
It'll be interesting to see if and how this escalates in the days and weeks to come, and I'll try to stay on top of it.
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