Report: Trump ordered maritime strikes and oil measures against Venezuela

The New York Times reported that President Trump signed a secret directive ordering U.S. military maritime strikes that concentrated naval firepower off the coast of Venezuela as part of a campaign to pressure President Nicolás Maduro. The campaign has also included a quasi-blockade of oil tankers and threats of land strikes.

The paper says the push emerged from overlapping agendas led by Marco Rubio and Stephen Miller, who merged goals of weakening Mr. Maduro, striking drug traffickers and securing access to Venezuela’s oil. Mr. Trump’s July 25 directive called for maritime strikes against drug-trafficking groups; the Times reports the operations have involved 29 lethal boat attacks over four months and have killed at least 105 people, while the administration has not publicly presented evidence linking the boats to trafficking.

The report describes secretive planning kept to a small circle, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signing an execute order that initially lacked guidance on survivors and that excluded many career military and legal officials. After at least two incidents in which survivors were seen or recovered — including a Sept.

2 strike in which initial survivors were later killed after additional strikes, and an Oct. 16 episode in which two survivors were taken aboard the USS Iwo Jima and returned to their home countries — military lawyers revised the order to address detainee treatment.

Key Topics

Politics, Donald Trump, Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, Marco Rubio, Stephen Miller