Public sentiment regarding U.S. military operations against Venezuelan drug traffickers is highly polarized. A majority of commenters express support for military actions, viewing them as necessary to combat drug trafficking and protect American lives. However, significant skepticism exists concerning the legality and morality of these operations, with many questioning the government's claims and highlighting potential violations of due process. Critics fear that these actions could lead to increased militarization and war crimes.

U.S. Military

Venezuelan Government

U.S. Administration

Drug Cartels

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said security forces intercepted a speedboat in the waters off Falcón state on September 14, carrying 100 sacks of cocaine and 2,400 liters of fuel. The operation, which Cabello described as "clean," ended with five arrests. The detainees were identified as Joel Luis Rodríguez Ramos, Jesús Antonio Quilarte Carreño, Jhonny José Salazar Gutiérrez, Carlos Alberto Bravo Lemus, and Levi Enrique López, who Cabello alleged is linked to the DEA.According to Cabello, the detainees confessed the shipment was part of a "false flag operation" designed to incriminate Venezuela in international drug trafficking and justify external aggression. "The four detainees are saying they work for the DEA," Cabello told state television, calling the alleged plan a "maneuver for destabilization."

Huge_Excitement4465

On one hand, I can't trust Venezuela. On the other, I can't trust the US. This is a tough one.

DizzyBlackberry3999

Not sure if I belueve this.  Let's wait till we hear from Trump about it.  If he says its false, than we will know its true.

BanditsMyIdol

Even if the false flag is fake, capturing drug runners to show evidence of drugs is sort of normal. Dropping multiple missiles on a boat from hundreds of meters above is Trump's evidence of drugs instead of actual drugs

jankyt

Several-Opposite-746

You really think the US would run clandestine drug operations in the global south to advance foreign policy agendas? What is this the 50s or something? the 60s? the 70s? 80s? 90s? 00s?

MC_Gengar

You think The White House is paying street dealer prices? Fuck no! They go to Cocaine Costco.

bonyponyride

the US meddling in the affairs of south american governments? never.

SnooGiraffes8275

It's not a stretch that the CIA and DEA are heavily involved in international trafficking, whether to legitimately facilitate stings or for private enrichment.  

This is like those Florida Instagram Sheriffs who make continuous drugs and weapons seizures but it's an open secret that their families are tied to mafia and international drug trade.

x86_64_

You know, I'm intimately familiar with all of the sinister shit that the US government has done, from syphalis experiments to operation condor; and despite all of that, if the US government had released a statement saying something, I would probably trust that the person who approved the statement believed the things that were being said in the way that was being defined.

That doesn't mean they're trustworthy in general.  There are lies of omission, and misleading statements, and refusals to provide information, but I have always trusted that the government would not say something it knows is a lie, without defining the terms to mean that they technically aren't lying.

And yet here we are, for the very first time, an authoritarian government that I EXPECT to lie is making ridiculous claims, and not only can I not safely dismiss them out of hand, I don't feel comfortable even trusting a contradiction from a historically much more trustworthy government.

And everybody I know who actually manages business and investment with the United States trusts it less than I do.  Like, I don't know anybody who is burning bridges but everybody is building new ones with China for when the old ones fall down of disrepair.  All of this is gonna have some pretty severe impact over the next 20 years or so.

Savacore

This is BS. Source: I am Venezuelan and they do it all the time there.

There was a time there was a gigantic blackout. What happened? Not the gigantic corruption and lack of investment, but cosmic rays sent by the USA. That is what an official said (this man is Diosdado Cabello, torturer and orderer of many executions in Venezuela during peaceful demonstrations).

Your lack of trust for the US doesn't make these guys trustworthy

Luisalter

Royal-Hunter3892

I'm not going to blindly believe anything that comes from the Venezuelan government. But it certainly sounds like something the DEA/Trump Admin would be doing right now given that Venezuela isn't actually responsible for more than a drop in a rainfall of the narcotics that get smuggled into the US.

Hefty-Comparison-801

If someone believes Diosdado Cabello, it shows that they don't have any idea who he is.

I know you cant trust Trump or USA either but this clown is a wannabe Goebbels, he's always been announcing  the arrest of US soldiers, mercenaries, cia agents, spies, arresting the opposition for being "traitors" etc.    

They don't even try to make convincing lies:

 *....the detainees confessed the shipment was part of a "false flag operation" designed to incriminate Venezuela in international drug trafficking and justify external aggression. "The four detainees are saying they work for the DEA,"*  How convenient. 

If you dislike Trump for being authoritarian you have to hate this clown

Zadiath

art-man_2018

Expose all of my country's corruption! If we can't do it internally with our news anymore, international needs to help us build our RICO case against the GOP.

samcrut

Four detainees caught in Venezuela and all claim to work for the DEA? Mmmmm, idk about that one. Not necessarily impossible either.

zellyze

I trust Venezuela's government as much as I trust the US's government.

rockhopper92

It wasn't a false flag op: the Agents were simply picking up Donnie jrs weekly supply. 

Silly-Power

Venezuela acting like the DEA needs more incriminating evidence of drug trafficking.

RocktarPeppe

The USA has been involved in [changing legally elected government](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_involvement_in_regime_change_in_Latin_America) in Latin America for years.  

This continued on to this day and age, if history has taught us anything.

ThrowawayAl2018

We'll never know the truth about anything again. We're so past the point of no return, I'd prefer the matrix to this. If we have to live in a manufactured reality, I'd rather it be my own.

Neologic29

Awesome! Two can play at this game. Some better than others.

I_burn_noodles

Now a day I believe more in Venezuela than In USA

Ok_Syllabub_1116

Like I said, Trump wants Venezuela’s oil and is starting a war

eldave77

Proving that you CAN stop a small boat without murdering people.

sunnyspiders

The US has done this before in South America to destabilize countries

Amazing_Cause5698

What benefit would come to these supposed DEA agents in admitting they’re working against the Venezuelan government exactly? Why would anyone “admit” to this instead of just being a standard drug trafficker?

Jaylow115

I remember a YouTube vid I saw where they asked a Mexican Federal cop about corruption within Mexican law enforcement...

With a straight face, he stated: 'Your DEA is even *MORE* corrupt.'

I believe him.

Prior-Chip-6909

Agatha Christie would have been proud of these twists and turns

nimbutimbu

Now this is a spicy Friday article. Wonder how dear leader Trump will handle it

andrewskdr

It's hard to tell what is real. The zone is so flooded with shit.

chuckaholic

Guys it is 2025, you don't need any sort of basis or reason to believe something. You just kinda pick and choose, sort of like picking what shirt you want to wear. So I am going to believe this as its kinda fun and exciting. Like can anyone say twist?

I think next episode Trump will say something like "they are trying to frame my best friend Levi, the best Levi unlike those woke jeans. He would never do drugs and this is why i am declaring war on Venezuela"

And then it will all lead up to the season finale where Stephen Miller and Diosadado Cabello battle it out to see who the bestest propaganda czar is

Iracus

I want to believe them as a Canadian. We're apparently the number 1 drug trafficker into USA for fent. Lol it's actually less than 1% and we get more from the USA. 

News websites are power to twist the narrative. Hence why USA is buying "tiktok". Kings of propaganda.

danizor

Just like all the drugs the government started to find just abandon on the shoreline the videos they posted looked staged as fuck.  Or the failed coo from a few years ago with the zodiac boats being captured by local fisherman?

Ishymo

Don't care if dea agent is American.  Trump just fucked him over.  You voted for this idiot

PuzzledAd9795

Gotta have a war for the war dept. GWOT 2 Venezuelan Boogaloo is coming soon to a theater near you.

[deleted]

Born too late to be at Fallujah  
Born just in time to be sent to Caracas

Ancellax

In February 2025, the State Department designated several powerful drug cartels and criminal gangs as FTOs and Specially Designated Global Terrorists (SDGTs). 

Mexican cartels: Cártel de Sinaloa, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación, Cártel del Noreste, Cártel del Golfo, La Nueva Familia Michoacana, and Cárteles Unidos.

Venezuelan groups: Tren de Aragua and Cartel de los Soles.

Gang: Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13).
Haitian gangs: Viv Ansanm and Gran Grif. 

So, under this designation, those groups mentioned qualify as lawful targets. Those groups would be conducting illegal operations against the Americas. 

I hope this helps for informational purposes.

M0lcilla

This is the same guy who is supposedly in the running for a Nobel Peace Prize, and campaigned on ending wars (such as the Russia/Ukraine War on his "first day in office", and here we are 228 days later and still nothing).

Edit: spelling

JustHanginInThere

Cthulhuhoop1984

Just say the quiet part out loud. We are the department of war and for our first war under the name since the 40s, we are gonna invade Venezuela and Maduro is gonna get saddam'd.

Nethias25

So  are we using drugs as a reason to kill people? Does this mean we are closer to a reality where the US government drone strikes Walter White? I mean, normally drug running isn’t a crime that warrants the death penalty…

Lostlilegg

Are any of them legal or constitutional?

Does not a single member of Congress still remember that it's supposed to be THEIR JOB to declare war?

ActualSpiders

on_the_nightshift

The word is it was a MH-60S Seahawk, operated by specialized squadrons like [HSC-85](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=ea952d4a728bb5fe&amp;rlz=1CAGXWE_enUS1163US1163&amp;cs=0&amp;sxsrf=AE3TifPXh4vMT4CdFVALKWOdUxLIA6BkFw%3A1757208973089&amp;q=HSC-85&amp;sa=X&amp;ved=2ahUKEwjCg4fFwcWPAxX5L9AFHViELxMQxccNegQIBRAC&amp;mstk=AUtExfDrZg4l7sX9rYferDzhZrK1G_qc97xU1cJsHozfV7ge0CQy5qsvTuiv7u2cabpuWHJi4iKPg9GhDoswxXlBew7rEXUd9rY5e0aNAoenx3-taHLin7jFg3-p2uZmHwGkwSecQ6FfPvH_d0KGRawhWbrquus9SbvbUQHJHzrsUpsj4b1MWcfw9x9ogZiXNNqAO16h-oc9NcuBJJivdw5Y5UQQ5Rj5fMmypG4857wcNebD8xvQZaO3QA5PASO0rXBmTPsj4FZnynF656pfnfOLxM9Ooh3o9t9V_xtZIW0lut7F5g&amp;csui=3), or an usaf reaper. ... using a AGM-65 Maverick... my thought was it was a reaper, unless the Navy wanted the mission. I can see command let the Navy do the mission if they request it.....

Creepy-Ear6307

Unretire the A-10 n give to the Coast Guard

BernieF15

[No troops.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N1p7Qdac0v8)

PM_ME_UR_TAF

Wait, why is the department of war conducting military strikes? Is the POTUS declaring war?

fpsnoob89

Not even worth paying attention to. It won't be anything truly substantive.

Special_Disaster_844

BigMaffy

I don't have a problem with it..  we don't need to stop drug runners and take their loot... we just need to stop their drug missions.   My only thought is how are we doing this?  We are not using AC130 gun ships.  we are not using A10s, what are we using to kill boats.

brock_lee

Oil, probably. Now that we're an oil country again.

NoCountryForOld_Zen

People are eager because they are told to be eager and are happy to comply.

TheFredCain

Well they do have a lot of oil, which by itself makes them eligible for an invasion.

Electrical-Reach603

Venezuela isn't a country that refused to bow to the pressure to use the petrodollar...

Seriously, it's one of the major reasons for US economic sanctions against Venezuela.

Severe-Independent47

Venezuelan Crude is really the only Crude oil that American refineries can use.  All Crude oil is vastly different,  takes different refineries running different processes. Venezuelan oil is very important to American refineries. We used to have decent relationships with them until Amerika got this attitude of Bomb Invade ask questions later.  Pragmatic dogma has murdered the American Spirit.

EvoQPY3

They keep trying to be socialist and America doesn't have socialist countries near it.

Ring_Peace

I don't think there are many people who want to go to war with Venezuela.   I'm not sure even the blowhards talking about it would really think it was a good idea.   They just like to talk trash.

Vivid_Witness8204

Drugs and arms are indeed the reason.  Russia/China bring in drugs/arms to help gangs and cartels basically threaten surrounding governments.  Stopping them at the source is important.   Blow up as many 11 people boats as needed, because there's as least one Russian or Chinese on that boat spreading these.  

They are doing everything they can to attack democracies in the shadows.

NewspaperLumpy8501

Not really a war as much as a mop-up operation.  Face it, Venezuela is nothing militarily.

Device_whisperer

HugaBoog

squirtl86

I wish I could find the video again, but on YouTube a guy covered the history and easy manner…and yeah it all comes around to Oil.  Apparently at one point in history they supplied quite a bit of Oil to the U.S. even more than the Middle East.

Middle East oil takes a week or to arrive to the U.S. and oil from Venezuela within a day or something like that.

TheOtherArod

Oil. More specifically, they have oil that only a few countries can process and we're one of them.

So, as usual, big oil companies are working their levers of power to once again get the US to invade another country for profit.

Xyrus2000

Shrek_Wisdom

Drugs are a good reason.   Why not, clean up the supply chain for awhile.  And then there will be another supplier.   
Nasty

nakthefirst

Have you ever lost a family member to drugs? I have, and that's why we need a war over drugs.

Because Venezuela is a burden to south america and venezuelan migration to other countries has not stopped…

Sensitive_Judgment23

Tutz--Honeychurch

Eldergoth

Various_Ad_1050

Can't believe that people are defending a damn drug dealer.


Go ahead and down vote me . Defend a drug dealer

Silverado153

Message to drug traffickers: Don't do it.

FilmFalm

More precious cargo sunk? The Dems are going to be furious when they hear the news.

D_Ethan_Bones

Obviously they can't share how they get the Intel that confirms this before they take action but they better be absolutely sure.

Hectoriu

I mean this a slippery slope. What’s stopping Venezuela from faking one of these to just stir shit?

pkilla50

Gisela Salim-Peyer: “Last month, the United States sent Navy ships to the Venezuelan coastline, invoking war powers for an anti-drug mission that would normally be a routine job of the U.S. Coast Guard. The extraordinary move left me with a nagging sense of déjà vu. A little while later, I understood why.

“I’d interviewed the leader of Venezuela’s opposition movement, María Corina Machado, a few months earlier. She’d told me she would love to see a scenario remarkably similar to the one now developing. I confess that I didn’t pay much attention to this idea, which at the time seemed fantastically improbable. But when the flotilla was lined up, I figured I’d relisten to the recording I’d made of the interview.

“I’d been speaking to Machado in the context of Venezuela’s unfolding electoral drama. She had not been permitted to run against the strongman president, Nicolás Maduro, in the summer of 2024, but by the tallies of electoral observers (an official count is still unavailable), her surrogate garnered a majority of the vote. Maduro made clear that he had no intention of ceding power, and anyway, no one could make him. In the months that followed, the still-popular Machado endeavored to keep the flame of hope alive … By winter, that flame had dimmed. Donald Trump had returned to the White House with little interest in Venezuela beyond deporting its people from the United States.”

“… In the past, Machado had mostly framed supporting the Venezuelan democratic opposition as a moral imperative. How would America go about treating Venezuela as a law-enforcement target instead? I asked for an example.

“Machado told me that she wished the Trump administration would carry out a ‘big antinarcotics operation in the Caribbean,’ given that, she said, Venezuela was the country through which most Colombian drugs make their way to the United States. After all, Machado added, Maduro is the leader of Tren de Aragua, a gang Trump often decries.

“… Some Venezuelan observers have speculated that the Trump administration launched this mission at least partly with Machado’s encouragement. (Her spokesperson declined to comment for this story.) The notion is not far-fetched. The opposition leader maintains close ties with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, one of the most enthusiastic proponents in the Cabinet of this particular naval buildup. Administration officials have echoed many of Machado’s claims—that Maduro leads Tren de Aragua, for example—and embraced a Machado-like use of narco as a prefix (‘narco-boat,”’ ‘narco-terrorists’).

“No one can be certain that Machado had a role in convincing the administration to pursue these tactics, but she does appear to be welcoming them.”

Read more: [https://theatln.tc/BPUdZn5h](https://theatln.tc/BPUdZn5h) 

theatlantic

I love the phrase *the Trump administration’s cinematic universe*.

It reminds me of this quote:

 &gt; Before taking office, Mr. Trump told top aides to think of each presidential day as an episode in a television show in which he vanquishes rivals.

https://www.wral.com/story/1-sentence-that-perfectly-explains-donald-trump-s-view-of-the-presidency/17178125/

RamblingSimian

There was a window of opportunity for Trump to go after Venezuela with full support of the international community of democratic states, but since pretty much every play he made in foreign policy after taking office entailed undermining, bulling and delegitimizing the international community of democratic states, that's not an option now.

MethylphenidateMan

Trace the money, I’m sure it comes from the same place all the Save Gaza protests that just up an vanished after the election. Fake outage and bullshit

billy_penn17047

The U.S. military has conducted strikes against vessels involved in drug trafficking originating from Venezuela, claiming to target 'narcoterrorists.'

US Military Operations Against Drug Traffickers from Venezuela

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