CNN-The Trump administration could have expanded authority to take action in Venezuela starting Monday, as the US designates Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his government allies as members of a foreign terrorist organization.
The designation of “Cartel de los Soles,” a phrase that experts say is more a description of allegedly corrupt government officials than an organized crime group, as a foreign terrorist organization will authorize President Donald Trump to impose fresh sanctions targeting Maduro’s assets and infrastructure. It doesn’t, however, explicitly authorize the use of lethal force, according to legal experts.
Still, administration officials have been making the case that the designation — one of the State Department’s most serious counterterrorism tools — will give the US expanded military options for striking inside Venezuela.
Cartel de los Soles is used to describe a decentralized network of Venezuelan groups within the armed forces linked to drug trafficking, experts say. The Venezuelan president has always denied any personal involvement in drug trafficking, and his government has repeatedly denied the existence of the alleged cartel, which some experts suggest technically doesn’t exist in a conventional sense.
The designation, announced November 16, comes as the US military has amassed more than a dozen warships and 15,000 troops into the region as part of what the Pentagon has branded “Operation Southern Spear.” The US military has killed dozens of people in boat strikes as part of the anti-drug-trafficking campaign.
Trump has been briefed by top officials on a range of options for action inside Venezuela, including strikes on military or government facilities and special operations raids. The option of doing nothing also still exists.
There is some public opposition to US involvement in the region. According to a CBS News/YouGov poll released Sunday, 70% of Americans oppose the US taking military action in Venezuela, compared with 30% who favor action. Seventy-six percent of respondents say the Trump administration has not clearly explained the US position on military action.
Officially, the Trump administration says it is working to cut down on illegal flows of migrants and drugs — but regime change is a possible side effect of those efforts. Trump is hoping that the pressure is enough to force Maduro to step down without taking direct military action, according to a US official.
Trump has expressed some openness to a diplomatic resolution, saying last week that Maduro “would like to talk” and later suggesting that he would be open to speaking with him “at a certain time.”
The White House did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment on the status of a potential Trump-Maduro conversation.
In a sign of the escalating tensions, the US on Thursday conducted its largest military display near Venezuela, as at least six US aircraft appeared off the nation’s coast over the course of several hours, including a supersonic F/A-18E fighter jet, a B-52 strategic bomber and reconnaissance aircraft, according to a CNN review of open-source flight data.
And over the weekend, three international airlines canceled their flights departing from Venezuela after the US Federal Aviation Administration warned major airlines of a “potentially hazardous situation” when flying over the country, according to Reuters.
CNN’s Avery Schmitz contributed to this report.
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Who makes and approves America as world police?
Where does America get the moral authority to declare the leader of a sovereign state a terrorist?
Blacks in America are killed like dogs by a racist police force.
Their actions can be deemed as a crime against humanity legitimized by a convicted president.
He is more deserving of being declared a world terrorist.
He has entered several countries and decimated it in search of the nonexistent.
Those are the things for which he should be deemed a terrorist.
Yet he wants to make himself look clean.
He who comes to equity must come with clean hands.
The world must not support Trump’s sinister plan to take Venezuela’s oil.
I call on China, Russia, Iraq, and North Korea to join forces and come to the assistance of Venezuela.
The bully must be bellied and taught a lesson.
IF Maduro stays it will do us in the Caribbean more harm than good…..He steal and election, became a dictator and human rights went out the window…Mass migration from Venezuela as a result destabilizing the country…The drug boats speeding out to see are never intercepted by Venezuelan coast guards which clearly indicates the regime is making deals with drug cartels…The oil in Venezuela has been sanctioned and Maduro is relying on the Russians to help Venezuela refine it’s oil..So the The Mad Dog of South America is a dictator, narco trafficker and pro Russian….Cuba was different the people welcomed communism and Castro and cut all ties with the US and it’s allies….Venezuela’s election was stolen a vast majority of the population don’t want him as their leader hence the mass migration..hence the big sh*t storm down there right now….HE MUST GO!!!
Straight Shooter you basically want World War III that wont end well for anyone…..USA, Russia and China are AFRAID OF EACH OTHER CAPABILITIES……North Korea is the spoiled outdated communist baby hiding under China but yet still the Chinese refuse to give them updated technology because they don’t fully trust the Kim’s….Maduro is a dictator and I know this is mean but sometimes I wish some of u saying Maduro, Gaddafi and Saddam are nice people would get a chance to live in those societies…USA and the rest the world can’t sit back and watch Venezuela’s continued spiral it will be a problem for all countries in the region…Believe it or not USA is the good guys here and we should be thankful Maduro is being forced out and bring Venezuela back to it’s glory days…..
Real shit is about to go down. The powerful can declare you a foreign terrorist, which make it easier to carry out what ever strikes or operations needed to take that terrorist out, keep in mind the Syrian president just visited the Whitehouse. World power at it’s best.
I am racking my brain as to who is worst Trump or Maduro and my gut feeling tells me it’s Trump. Personally I think the Almighty is now having second feelings about Trump
Because you’ll can not get the man oil to do as you’ll please he is a terrorist?