Peace President Trump’s threats against Venezuela

So, we have a US President who has nothing resembling a conventional strategic vision for US foreign policy. A President who flip-flops constantly in his commitments, whether the question is whose side is he on today in the Russia-Ukraine War or on tariffs.

It would be tempting to say that Trump’s Everlasting Peace Plan for Isrrael-Gaza is already metaphorically a smoking ruin. And for those Palestinians, Syrians, and Lebanese who continue to be under attack from Israel, it’s not even metaphorical.

And now he appears to be about to go to war against Venezuela.

The US has said it will designate a putative Venezuelan drug cartel allegedly led by Nicolás Maduro as a foreign terrorist organization, as the Trump administration sent more mixed messages over its crusade against Venezuela’s authoritarian leader.

The move to target the already proscribed group, the Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns), was announced by Marco Rubio on Sunday. ...

But shortly after Rubio’s pronouncement, those hopes were undermined when Trump hinted he might be prepared to negotiate with Maduro representatives. “We may be having some conversations with Maduro, and we’ll see how that turns out. They would like to talk,” Trump told reporters.

Asked if he would rule out US troops on the ground in Venezuela, Trump said “no I don’t rule out that.” (1)

This DW News report is mostly an interview with James Story, who was US Ambassador to Venezuela 2018-2023. He this interview he gives the standard neocon talking points about how we need to help the Venezuelan people replace their government. (2)

The word “oil” does not get a single mention in the ten-minute report. Because, of course, the US as always is primarily concerned with democracy, Juman rights, and the national integrity of our Latin American neighbors. Deutsche Welle often has informative reports. But this one just brings on a hardcore hawk to hype regime change in Venezuela.

Using the forever drug war has long been used for reckless and illegal US interference in Latin America, although there is a real US interest in reducing the vast narcotics trade. A serious nationwide shift in the paradigm on counter-narcotics to a heavy emphasis on addiction treatment would actually be the single most effective element in such an approach. Chas Freeman in the video below also alludes to this needed policy shift.

Drastically reducing illegal arms sales from the US to Mexico would also make the whole situation less damaging. But as long as the US preserves its dominant policy of unlimited proliferation of small arms, that illegal arms trade will also be impossible to drastically reduce.

But the Trump 2.9 regime is so far pursuing a neocon war policy of accusing the Nicolas Maduro’s government of directing the drug trade in Venezuela and, because of the violence involved with the trade, labeling it “narco-terrorism.”

Greg Grandin describes what he calls Trumps’s Murder Incorporated policy of deliberately killing fishers on unsubstantiated allegations that they are drug smugglers:

Today, Donald Trump presides over his own Murder Incorporated, less a government than a death squad.

Many brushed off his proclamation early in his second term that the Gulf of Mexico would henceforth be called the Gulf of America as a foolish, yet harmless, show of dominance. Now, however, he’s created an ongoing bloodbath in the adjacent Caribbean Sea. The Pentagon has so far destroyed 18 go-fast boats there and in the Pacific Ocean. No evidence has been presented or charges brought suggesting that those ships were running drugs, as claimed. The White House has simply continued to release bird’s-eye view surveillance videos (snuff films, really) of a targeted vessel. Then comes a flash of light and it’s gone, as are the humans it was carrying, be they drug smugglers, fishermen, or migrants. As far as we know, at least 64 people have already been killed in such attacks.

The kill rate is accelerating. In early September, the U.S. was hitting one boat every eight to ten days. In early October, one every two days. For a time, starting in mid-October, it was every day, including four strikes on October 27th alone. [my emphasis] (3)

Tom Engelhardt in his introduction to the Greg Grandin column observes, “When it comes to the United States of America and its presidents, while Donald Trump is now distinctly upping the ante, there’s nothing faintly new about the disastrous ‘war on drugs’.”

Lawrence Wilkerson, who was Secretary of State Colin Powell’s Chief of Staff talks about the possible influence of Israeli efforts in the push for a regime change war in Venezuela: (4)

Chas Freeman also calls attention to how Trump’s threats against Venezuela have led Britain’s MI6 intelligence services and the government of Colombia to seriously restrict their cooperation with the US on the drug war.

Notes:

(1) Phillips, Tom (2025): US will label supposed Venezuelan drug cartel ‘headed by Maduro’ as terrorist organization. Guardian 11/17/2025. <https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/nov/17/trump-venezuelan-drug-cartel> (Accessed: 2025-18-11).

(2) How Venezuela is reacting to latest escalatory US rhetoric. DW News YouTube channel. <https://youtu.be/a4f1BJYKtZA?si=56-o78eDMbPvdrtK> (Accessed: 2025-18-11).

(3) Grandin, Greg (2025): Escalating the Escalation. TomDispatch 11/11/2025. <https://tomdispatch.com/escalating-the-escalation/> (Accessed: 2025-18-11).

(4) AMB Chas Freeman : MI6 and Venezuela: What The Brits Know. Judge Napolitano-Judging Freedom YouTube channel 11/18/2025. <https://youtu.be/2GtEKhkQAuw?si=yz7oJqPIjFuKHyq9> (Accessed: 2025-18-11).