cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/39450256

President Donald Trump suggested Thursday that the United States is preparing to take new action against alleged drug trafficking networks in Venezuela, telling service members during a Thanksgiving call that efforts for strikes on land will be starting “very soon.”

“In recent weeks, you’ve been working to deter Venezuelan drug traffickers, of which there are many. Of course, there aren’t too many coming in by sea anymore,” Trump told service members in the call.

“You probably noticed that people aren’t wanting to be delivering by sea, and we’ll be starting to stop them by land also,” the president continued. “The land is easier, but that’s going to start very soon.

“We warn them: Stop sending poison to our country,” Trump added.

Trump comments suggest he has made up his mind on a course of action in Venezuela following multiple high-level briefings and a mounting US show of force in the region earlier this month.

Trump designated Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his government allies as members of a foreign terrorist organization earlier this week.

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 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.