The Trump administration is reportedly planning to target military installations inside Venezuela, marking an escalation in its campaign against drug trafficking organizations.

Potential targets include naval and air bases suspected of participating in the large-scale drug operations orchestrated by the notorious Tren de Aragua cartel.

According to sources speaking to the Miami Herald, airstrikes could commence in a matter of days, or even hours. Those informed about the strategy have indicated that time is running out for Venezuela’s socialist leader, Nicolas Maduro.

“Maduro is on the brink of being cornered and might soon find it impossible to escape the country, even if he attempts to,” a source revealed. “Compounding his predicament, there are now multiple generals prepared to capture him, understanding the stark difference between discussing death and confronting its reality.”

President Donald Trump and his senior officials are intensely focused on undermining Maduro, whom they accuse of using the drug trade as a weapon against the United States.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is the architect of the strategy, White House sources say, and he views Maduro’s regime as an existential threat.

‘You have a narco-state in Venezuela run by a cartel,’ he told reporters last week. ‘This is an operation against narco-terrorists, the al Qaeda of the Western Hemisphere … and they need to be dealt with.’

Trump has deployed the largest US force to the Caribbean since the Cold War and ordered 13 strikes on drug smuggling boats, killing at least 57 alleged cartel gangsters.

A member of the Bolivarian Militia holds a weapon during a rally amid rising tensions with the United States, in Caracas, Venezuela, on Thursday

Trump has been striking ‘narco-terrorist’ boats operated by Venezuelan drug smugglers in the Caribbean 

The president sparked alarm last week when he deployed the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, as part of the force, which includes 10,000 troops, multiple warships, nuclear submarines, F-35 fighter jets, MQ-9 Reaper drones, P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance planes, and B-52 bombers. 

Maduro also reacted with fury when a destroyer, the USS Gravely, was dispatched to Trinidad and Tobago to take part in naval drills. The island is just seven miles from Venezuela at its closes point.

Venezuela claimed that the CIA was working with Trinidad and Tobago to spark a broader conflict. Caracas also said it had captured a CIA-backed ‘group of mercenaries’ who were preparing a ‘false flag attack’.

Trump sparked concerns on Capitol Hill last month when he informed Congress that the US is now engaged in a ‘non-international armed conflict’.

It allows the President to treat the cartel gangsters as ‘unlawful combatants’, meaning they can be killed or detained without a trial.

The strikes primarily target smugglers from Venezuela where Maduro is not recognized as legitimate president by Washington.

Maduro has been flooding the airwaves with propaganda that Trump is a bloodthirsty fascist who plans to invade and has mobilized tens of thousands of reservists for the onslaught he claims is coming.

Trump earlier this month warned Maduro that he better not ‘f*** around with America’ as he spoke to reporters at the White House.

The US Navy destroyer USS Gravely (DDG 107) arrives in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, 26 October

The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, seen in the North Sea during NATO Neptune Strike 2025 exercise on September 24, 2025 in the North Sea. Washington is deploying an aircraft carrier and accompanying ships to counter drug-trafficking organizations in Latin America, the Pentagon said on October 24

The administration also stated that it had authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela, a highly unusual disclosure.

The drug boat strikes have alarmed Democratic lawmakers and legal scholars, who see Trump testing the limits of the law as he expands the scope of presidential power.

The White House has not detailed what evidence it has against the vessels or individuals, has not said what type of munitions or platforms were used in the strikes or even what quantity of drugs the vessels were allegedly carrying.

Some former military lawyers say the legal explanations given by the Trump administration for killing suspected drug traffickers at sea instead of apprehending them fail to satisfy requirements under the law of war.

This requires several criteria to be met before taking lethal action – including first using non-lethal means like firing warning shots.

Legal experts have also questioned why the military is carrying out the strikes instead of the Coast Guard, which is the main maritime law enforcement agency.