United Nations Ambassador Mike Waltz declared Thursday that President Donald Trump is prepared to do “whatever it takes” to protect the United States from Venezuelan-based drug cartels that his administration has now officially designated as terrorist organizations.
The statement comes on the heels of Trump’s stunning confirmation that he authorized the CIA to launch covert anti-cartel operations inside Venezuela. The move expands an already aggressive U.S. strategy aimed at dismantling transnational criminal networks fueling the fentanyl and cocaine epidemics.
“These are designated terrorist gangs,” Waltz said during an appearance on Fox & Friends. “President Trump is going to use all the tools in the toolkit—from the intelligence community to the Department of War, and of course, diplomatically—to defend U.S. sovereignty against actions that are actively killing Americans.”
The CIA operations mark a historic escalation in U.S. policy toward Venezuela, where the Marxist Maduro regime has long been accused of harboring and partnering with narcoterrorist factions like Tren de Aragua and the Cartel of the Suns.
Trump’s war on the cartels began in earnest last month when the U.S. Navy and Coast Guard launched kinetic strikes on suspected drug-smuggling vessels off the Venezuelan coast. The administration confirmed that at least six ships were destroyed and 27 cartel members were killed.
“This is about defending American families,” Trump said Wednesday. “We’ve tried doing it the polite way for decades, and it hasn’t worked.”
Critics in Caracas were quick to accuse the U.S. of violating international law, filing a complaint with the United Nations. But Waltz dismissed the move as political theater.
“Venezuela can bring whatever they want to the UN,” Waltz said. “They love to scream about sovereignty, but let’s be clear—under Article 51 of the UN Charter, the United States has every right to defend itself from foreign threats. That’s what President Trump is doing.”
The administration is now weighing whether to expand military action to include land-based cartel targets inside Venezuela, a move that would further strain diplomatic ties and signal that Trump’s war on drugs is entering a more aggressive phase.
With the United States suffering record numbers of overdose deaths and communities flooded with foreign-manufactured narcotics, Trump has repeatedly pointed to the failure of traditional interdiction strategies.
“The Coast Guard has been working for decades to stop this. They’re heroes, but they’re outmatched by well-funded, well-armed narco-terrorists,” Trump said.
According to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, recent intelligence estimates suggest that nearly 40% of cartel shipments bound for U.S. cities originate from Venezuelan-controlled territory. U.S. military leaders have described the region as a “safe haven” for criminal organizations emboldened by the Maduro regime’s corruption.
The Trump administration’s new approach—combining intelligence operations, military force, and international pressure—is intended to collapse that safe haven and send a clear message: the era of cartel impunity is over.
“We’re not going to apologize for protecting our people,” Waltz said. “President Trump made that clear on Day One, and he’s proving it now.”
The post Mike Waltz: Trump Will Do ‘Whatever It Takes’ to Defend U.S. from Venezuela’s Terrorist Drug Gangs appeared first on Real News Now.
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