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| President Donald Trump has stepped up the US military presence in the Caribbean (Brendan SMIALOWSKI) |
The declaration was made in a formal notice sent to the U.S. Congress, a copy of which was obtained by AFP on Thursday. The notice legally reframes the U.S. counter-narcotics mission from a law enforcement operation into a military one, dramatically raising the stakes in a region already fraught with tension.
This move comes after at least three recent U.S. military strikes in international waters off the coast of Venezuela, which have killed at least 14 people. Legal experts have raised serious doubts about the legality of these actions under traditional maritime law.
A New Legal Framework for a Shadow War
The Pentagon's notice to Congress lays out a new and aggressive legal framework for the administration's actions. It designates the cartels as "non-state armed groups" and "terrorist organizations," and asserts that their actions constitute an "armed attack against the United States."
Crucially, the notice also describes the suspected smugglers as "unlawful combatants," a term typically reserved for wartime that can strip individuals of protections afforded under international law.
"As we have said many times, the president acted in line with the law of armed conflict to protect our country from those trying to bring deadly poison to our shores," White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly told AFP. "He is delivering on his promise to take on the cartels and eliminate these national security threats from murdering more Americans."
A White House official confirmed the note was sent to Congress following one of the strikes on September 15, adding that it was a legal requirement after any attack involving the U.S. military.
Venezuela's Furious Reaction
The declaration and the military buildup have drawn a furious response from Venezuela's leftist President Nicolas Maduro, who has long accused the U.S. of seeking to overthrow his government.
On Thursday, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino denounced what he called an "illegal incursion" by five U.S. fighter jets flying just "75 kilometers from our shores." Padrino decried the alleged flights as a "provocation" and a "threat to our national security."
A government statement further accused the United States of flouting international law and jeopardizing civil aviation in the Caribbean Sea.
A History of Rising Tensions
The current crisis is the culmination of months of escalating brinkmanship in the Caribbean. Last month, President Trump dispatched 10 F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico and deployed eight warships and a nuclear submarine to the region—the largest U.S. military deployment in the area in over three decades.
Tensions spiked after two Venezuelan military planes "buzzed" an American naval vessel last month, prompting a stern warning from Trump that any repeat of the incident would result in the jets being "shot down."
For President Maduro, the U.S. counter-narcotics mission is merely a thinly veiled pretext for a covert operation aimed at achieving regime change in Caracas. The new U.S. declaration of an "armed conflict" will only serve to deepen those fears and increase the risk of a direct military confrontation between the two nations.