Is US attacking Venezuela? Secretary Marco Rubio provides crucial update on report
A report claimed that the Donald Trump administration had decided to attack military installations inside Venezuela and said the strikes were imminent.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has spoken up about a report claiming the Donald Trump administration has decided to attack military installations in Venezuela. The Miami Herald report cited people with knowledge of the situation and claimed that the strikes could come at any moment. It said that the move came as the US prepared for the next stage of its campaign against the Soles drug cartel.
The report was also corroborated by a Wall Street Journal article which said the planned attacks sought to destroy military installations used by the drug trafficking group that the US says is headed by Nicolás Maduro, the president of Venezuela.
What Marco Rubio said about the report
While Rubio did not mention anything about the WSJ report, he replied to the Miami Herald story claiming the US was poised to strike military targets in Venezuela. He wrote on X: “Your ‘sources’ claiming to have ‘knowledge of the situation’ tricked you into writing a fake story.”
Others in the Trump administration have denied the report as well. “Unnamed sources don’t know what they’re talking about. Any announcements regarding Venezuela policy would come directly from the President,” Miami Herald reported White House Deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly say.
Also Read | The meaning of America’s vast military build-up off Venezuela
Trump too denied making decisions to strike military sites inside Venezuela, when asked about it aboard Air Force One, on Friday, as per the publication.
What did the report claim
The report published on October 31, citing sources, said that the US planned to strike the targets by air in a matter of days or even hours. One source also told Herald that Maduro's time was running out, though the publication noted it didn't get a clear response as to whether the Venezuelan president would be a target.
The White House has doubled the reward for information leading to Maduro's arrest to $50 million, and offers $25 million for the capture of his top lieutenants.
