‘We’re just going to kill them’: Trump vows to escalate drug war to land targets

US President Donald Trump has said that “the land is going to be next” in his campaign to halt the flow of drugs into the US from Venezuela, the clearest indication yet that he was preparing to broaden strikes that have so far been limited to targets at sea.

Speaking to reporters at the White House on Thursday, Trump directed US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth to notify Congress of the administration’s plans. He did not discuss targets, though, he has repeatedly suggested he could order the US military to escalate attacks by hitting cartel infrastructure on land.

“The land is going to be next,” Trump said. Turning to Hegseth, he added: “Pete, you go to Congress, you tell them about it. What are they going to do? Say, ‘gee, we don’t want to stop drugs pouring in’?”

“The land drugs are much more dangerous for them,” Trump said. “It’s going to be much more dangerous. You’ll be seeing that soon. So that’s the way it is.”

Striking targets on land would be a major escalation in tensions with Venezuela. In September, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro ordered indefinite deployments of troops and assets across five states, expanding on his original mobilisation of 15,000 soldiers, following the first of the US boat strikes.