Trump Reportedly Greenlights Military to Take Down ‘Terrorist’ Latin American Drug Cartels

According to the New York Post, President Trump has secretly authorized the Pentagon to order the US military to take down Latin American drug cartels, which are classified as foreign terrorist organizations, effectively giving Venezuelan Dictator Nicolas Maduro and his Cartel de Los Soles the middle finger.

(Video Credit: Crime with Nia)

President Trump walks the walk… again

Some months ago, President Trump hinted to conservative Glenn Beck that he intended to do this, and if the report is correct, he’s keeping his word. This would be the most aggressive move by his administration to date to stomp out the gangs who are trafficking American-killing drugs such as fentanyl across the Mexican border. Previously, federal law enforcement was in charge of this.

Putting the military in control takes the attack up a number of notches. Meanwhile, Trump will have federal law enforcement patrolling Washington, DC’s violent streets.

Bounty on Maduro’s head

The New York Times first reported the order on Friday, so everyone is waiting to see if it is actually true. However, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Thursday for violating US drug laws, so it’s a pretty good bet the information is factual this time. The order gives US forces permission to engage the cartels on both land and sea.

(Video Credit: New York Post)

From Fox News:

Cartel of the Suns is a Venezuelan drug-trafficking organization comprised of high-ranking Venezuelan officials. In March 2020, Maduro was charged in a federal indictment with narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices.

To date, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has seized 30 tons of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates, Bondi said. The drugs are a primary source of income for Mexican and Venezuelan-based cartels, she said. 

Trump is coming for the cartels with a very big stick

The Daily Wire reports:

The order includes an official basis for the United States military to conduct anti-cartel operations in foreign countries, and military officials have already begun drafting plans for going after certain groups, the Times reported, citing “people familiar with the conversations.” It was not immediately clear which specific gangs or drug cartels Trump’s new directive greenlights military operations against.

“The president is determined to not just dismantle – but completely destroy – [Venezuelan dictator Nicolas] Maduro’s Cartel de Los Soles and obliterate their operations in the Western Hemisphere,” an unnamed source close to the White House stated.

According to the New York Times, US military officials have begun laying out attack plans to go after designated cartel groups. The directive is “focused on US forces directly capturing or killing people involved in the drug trade.”

The Daily Wire noted:

Under Trump, the United States has designated seven drug cartels and two international criminal gangs as foreign terrorist organizations: Tren de Aragua (TdA), Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), Cártel de Sinaloa, Cártel de Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), Cártel del Noreste (CDN), La Nueva Familia Michoacana (LNFM), Cártel de Golfo (CDG), and Cárteles Unidos (CU). The Trump administration recently added the Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles to its list, saying that it is operated by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and other high-ranking government officials.

[…]

Most of the cartels designated by the Trump administration as terrorist organizations operate in Mexico, while TdA’s roots are in Venezuela, and MS-13 originated in Los Angeles as a Salvadoran street gang. Both TdA and MS-13 also have cells operating in Central America, according to the State Department.

Halting the flow of drugs and helping the victims of gangs

Trump has been dead serious about stopping the flow of drugs since he came into office, placing raised tariffs on both Canada and Mexico to force them to put an end to the trafficking. He has also unleashed immigration agents to go after new arrivals who have gang ties.

The president has hosted families that have been affected by gang violence at the White House. He has promised to seize the assets of the cartels and give them to the families who have been impacted by “migrant crime.”

Fox News also noted, “In addition to the charges against him, the Justice Department has seized more than $700 million of assets linked to Maduro, including two private jets and nine vehicles, Bondi said.” 

Maduro replaced ruthless dictator Hugo Chavez after he died in 2013. He’s even worse than Chavez, and Trump has had him in his sights from the beginning.

The hunt to take out the cartels includes the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, the Department of Homeland Security, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, and the Treasury.

“President Trump’s top priority is protecting the homeland,” Deputy White House Press Secretary Anna Kelly said via a statement, “which is why he took the bold step to designate several cartels and gangs as foreign terrorist organizations.”

Mexico claims the US military will not set foot on its soil

Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum was quick to respond to the report from the Times on Friday. She has previously rejected an offer from Trump to send in the US military to fight the cartels.

“The United States is not going to come to Mexico with the military.” She declared and added that US officials had notified her that Trump’s directive “was coming,” according to the New York Times.

“We cooperate, we collaborate, but there is not going to be an invasion,” she said. “That is ruled out, absolutely ruled out. It is not part of any agreement, far from it. When it has been brought up, we have always said no.”

Sheinbaum went on to say that she was assured by the US that the order would not include sending troops into Mexico. Exactly which gangs and in which countries will be targeted is pretty unclear at the moment.

From the Daily Wire:

After pressure from Trump earlier this year, Sheinbaum reportedly deployed hundreds of troops to fight the Sinaloa Cartel — one of Mexico’s most powerful — with the group suffering significant losses. U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson said last month that U.S. fentanyl seizures were down and Mexico fentanyl seizures were on the rise “thanks to increased collaboration” between the two countries.

“Under [President Trump’s] and President [Sheinbaum’s] leadership, cartels are going bankrupt and our countries are safer because of it,” Johnson added.

According to the Post Millennial, Secretary of State Marco Rubio remarked during an interview on Thursday that labeling cartels as terrorist groups allows the US “to use other elements of American power, intelligence agencies, the Department of Defense, whatever, to target these groups if we have an opportunity to do it. We have to start treating them as armed terrorist organizations, not simply drug-dealing organizations.”

The post Trump Reportedly Greenlights Military to Take Down ‘Terrorist’ Latin American Drug Cartels appeared first on RAIR.