U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth briefed President Donald Trump last week on potential military options against Venezuela. The options presented included air strikes on military or government facilities and on drug trafficking routes, “or a more direct attempt to take out Maduro,” according to a CNN report.
The U.S., which has already begun attacking and destroying small vessels it claims are piloted by narco-terrorists, has accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of having ties to the illegal drug trade, portraying him as the de facto head of the criminal organization Cartel de los Soles — a charge Maduro denies.
On Sunday, the U.S. State Department denounced “the illegitimate Maduro regime,” saying it has “corrupted Venezuela’s military, intelligence, legislature, and judiciary.”
After sending America’s largest and newest aircraft carrier to the Caribbean, Hegseth announced last week that the mission in the Southern hemisphere would soon escalate: “Led by Joint Task Force Southern Spear and @SOUTHCOM, this mission defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people. The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood – and we will protect it.”
On Sunday, in sync with Hegseth’s moves, Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that his Department “intends to designate Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO).”
Referring to the “illegitimate Nicolás Maduro,” the State Department — underscoring Trump’s case to characterize the drug-trafficking as an act of war — says the Venezuelan leadership has “corrupted the institutions of government in Venezuela and is responsible for terrorist violence conducted by and with other designated FTOs as well as for trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe.”
.@StateDept intends to designate Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO). Headed by the illegitimate Nicolás Maduro, the group has corrupted the institutions of government in Venezuela and is responsible for terrorist violence conducted by and with other…
— Secretary Marco Rubio (@SecRubio) November 16, 2025
Note: Cartel de los Soles was sanctioned by the U.S. Treasury Department in July “for narco-trafficking and corruption ties to Maduro.”
MAGA supporters on social media are applauding Hegseth’s and Rubio’s announcements, and encouraging the U.S. to broaden its enemies list and apply the same FTO designation to Mexico (“now do Mexico”) and Qatar.
Recognizing the administration’s deliberate blending of drug-trafficking activity with terrorist accusations, and how that conflation seems meant to legitimize a legal path for a strategy of retaliation by acts of war, some members of Congress including U.S. Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM), are objecting.
Hi, Congress here—just a friendly reminder that a declaration of war and large-scale use of military force requires Congress, per the U.S. Constitution, and that extrajudicial killings are not allowed under international law.
Thanks for your attention to this matter. https://t.co/QwtLSBIEWv
— Rep. Melanie Stansbury (@Rep_Stansbury) November 16, 2025
Joining Republican U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) and others in calling the Caribbean strikes on alleged trafficking vessels “extrajudicial” executions, Stansbury replied to Hegseth using President Trump’s signature social media sign-off:
“Hi, Congress here—just a friendly reminder that a declaration of war and large-scale use of military force requires Congress, per the U.S. Constitution, and that extrajudicial killings are not allowed under international law. Thanks for your attention to this matter.”
Note: In 1945, the U.S. signed and ratified the U.N. Charter, “which prohibits extrajudicial force in partner states without necessity or self-defense. That makes it binding federal law under the Constitution’s Supremacy Clause.”