“I don’t think we necessarily need to declare war — we just need to eliminate those bringing drugs into the United States. Drugs are now coming in by land. You know, next we’ll be targeting the traffickers on land,” Trump said on October 23, without specifying which regions he was referring to.
The president said he would inform Congress of his decision to carry out strikes against drug cartels operating on land, expressing confidence that lawmakers would not oppose the move. Trump then instructed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to begin the formal notification process.
“Pete, you’ll go to Congress and report this to them. Are they really going to say, ‘We don’t want to stop drugs from pouring into America’? We’ll go to Congress — it costs us nothing. They always complain that we should have gone to Congress,” Trump said. The White House has not clarified what specific authorization the president intends to request. U.S. media suggested he could be seeking approval for limited use of force rather than a formal declaration of war.
Trump said he was “not satisfied” with Venezuela over various issues, including drug trafficking, and also criticized Colombia and Mexico. “Colombia has long been a hub for drugs — it’s terrible. And Mexico is being controlled by the cartels. I have great respect for the president of Mexico — she’s a wonderful and very brave woman. But the cartels are manipulating Mexico,” he said.
Civilian flight-tracking data on October 23 showed two U.S. aircraft, believed to be B-1 strategic bombers, operating about 80 km off the coast of Venezuela. A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, described the flights as a demonstration of American military presence in the region.
When asked whether this action was meant to increase pressure on Venezuela, Trump replied, “No, that’s not correct — that’s completely wrong.” It remains unclear whether his comment referred to the B-1 presence specifically or to their broader mission.
Defense Secretary Hegseth defended recent U.S. strikes against suspected drug-smuggling boats, calling them lawful. “The message we’re sending to these foreign terrorist organizations is that the United States will treat them just like al-Qaeda. We will track you down, map your networks, hunt you, and eliminate you,” he said.
On October 22, the U.S. announced it had conducted its first strike against a suspected “drug-running vessel” in the eastern Pacific Ocean — the eighth such attack since operations began in early September, and the first outside the Caribbean.
The move signals Washington’s intent to expand its campaign, extending military action to the waters off South America where much of the region’s drug smuggling occurs.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro condemned the strikes. “The attack on a vessel in the Pacific resulted in several deaths — we are not yet certain whether the boat belonged to Ecuador or Colombia. That was an act of killing. Whether in the Caribbean or the Pacific, this U.S. strategy violates the norms of international law,” Petro said.