Every time I write something about our current entanglement with Venezuela lately, something else explodes just after we publish it. Sometimes literally. On Friday, I gave a little update on, among other things, how many cartel boats out of the South American country that our military has blown up and then walked away from my computer for the day, only for President Donald Trump to announce via social media that we got another one. This time, we killed three narco-terrorists.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) September 19, 2025
If you're keeping track at home, that's the fourth cartel boat out of Venezuela that the United States has blown up this month. Both the president and Secretary of State Marco Rubio have suggested that it won't be the last and that the action is actually deterring cartels from taking to the Caribbean Sea to spread their poison to the rest of the Hemisphere and more specifically, our country. Meanwhile, officials in the Dominican Republic say they seized "377 packages of cocaine" from one of the boats destroyed last week.
Related: Cartel Boats Sunk, 75,000 Pounds of Cocaine Seized — Americans Say: Keep Striking
The words and actions of Venezuela's illegitimate president Nicolás Maduro prove that he's rattled, and he should be. He's on the brink of losing everything, and there is a $50 million reward out for him.
Apparently, Democrats are equally rattled. Last week, Sens. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and Tim Kaine (D-Va.) introduced a resolution that would stop these strikes on the drug boats, even though most Americans agree with the president's actions. The bill won't pass, and even if it did, Trump would veto it, but it does, as The Hill points out, force Republican senators to praise or condemn the actions on the record. Schiff and Kaine both spoke on the measure on Friday, and it sounds like they're both just sad that they're not involved.
"President Trump has no legal authority to launch strikes or use military force in the Caribbean or elsewhere in the Western Hemisphere," Kaine said. "The administration has refused to provide Congress with basic information about the multiple strike it has carried out, including who was killed, why it was necessary to put servicemembers’ lives at risk, and why a standard interdiction operation wasn’t conducted."
Heck, I can provide the information as to why a standard interdiction operation wasn't conducted at this point. Rubio has explained several times in recent weeks that interdiction no longer works. Try again, Senator.
Schiff claims he's just worried about retaliation against American citizens: "Congress alone holds the power to declare war. And while we share with the executive branch the imperative of preventing and deterring drugs from reaching our shores, blowing up boats without any legal justification risks dragging the United States into another war and provoking unjustified hostilities against our own citizens."
Well, apparently, he hasn't been paying attention either because Maduro has been sending his thugs into our country for years, and they're already committing "unjustified hostilities against our own citizens" and destabilizing our communities. Heck, even Joe Biden's Department of Homeland Security warned last November that Tren de Aragua is in at least 16 states and becoming increasingly violent.
But back to Maduro. We learned over the weekend that the shaken dictator sent a letter to Trump, begging for diplomacy.
Maduro Sends Letter to Trump, Affirming Venezuela’s Commitment to Peace
— Cartel Watch (@CartelWatchNet) September 21, 2025
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has sent a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump, emphasizing Venezuela’s stance as a peaceful nation free from illicit activities, according to Vice President Delcy… pic.twitter.com/PO87Vm7ZPn
"In recent weeks, the absolutely false allegations of ties to mafias and drug trafficking gangs by the highest legitimate authorities in Venezuela have taken center stage. This is the worst kind of fake news launched against our country to justify an escalation of an armed conflict that would cause catastrophic damage to the entire continent.," Maduro wrote. (Note: This is my English translation of the letter, which was written in Spanish.)
He went on to explain that Venezuela is actually fighting the war on drug trafficking, just like the United States, by cherry-picking stats from his own corrupt state agencies and spinning them into propaganda:
In that regard, I am sending you compelling data on drug production and drug trafficking in South America, which conclusively demonstrate, based on real facts, that Venezuela is a territory free of drug production and a non-relevant country in the narcotics sector, thanks to the immense efforts made over the years by our police and military forces. In that regard, as demonstrated by data from the UN and other organizations, which you can corroborate with your own intelligence agencies, 87 percent of the drugs produced in Colombia leave through Pacific ports; 8 percent through the northern Guajira region of Colombia; and barely 5 percent attempt to be transported through Venezuela. All seized drugs are combated, intercepted, and destroyed along the 2,200 kilometers of our border with Colombia. A very relevant fact is that this year we have already neutralized and destroyed more than 70 percent of that small percentage attempting to cross our extensive border with Colombia, stretching more than 2,200 kilometers. We have destroyed 402 international drug trafficking aircraft in accordance with Venezuelan law. This data confirms Venezuela's impeccable record in combating international drug trafficking, as expressed by all international organizations and agencies specializing in the matter.
He concludes: "Mr. President, I hope that together we can defeat this fake news that fills with noise a relationship that must be historic and peaceful, as our Liberator Simón Bolívar always envisioned."
On the way to Charlie Kirk's memorial in Arizona on Sunday, a reporter asked Trump about the letter. The president wouldn't get into the details, but he used the same phrase he's been using for months when asked about rising tensions: "I don't wanna say, but we'll see what happens with Venezuela."
Acabo de preguntar a Donald Trump sobre la supuesta carta de Maduro pidiendo negociar, pero no confirma la recepción y simplemente me dice: «no quiero decirlo, veremos lo que sucede con Venezuela». pic.twitter.com/x8ufmHzbry
— David Alandete (@alandete) September 21, 2025
Meanwhile, pressure on Maduro is growing, and it's not just coming from our Navy striking his drug boats. YouTube deleted his official account last week without explanation. It had over 233,000 subscribers. And a recent report from a United Nations Fact-Finding Mission also paints a grim picture of Maduro's Venezuela, especially after stealing the election in 2024, asserting violence, torture, arbitrary detentions, deaths in custody, deaths of protesters, sexual violence, forced disappearances, foreigners as hostages, etc.
The UN Fact-Finding Mission just published it’s Venezula report, and it confirms the DIRE situation of those trapped under this dictatorship of terror:
— Rep. María Elvira Salazar (@RepMariaSalazar) September 22, 2025
⁰🚨Thousands thrown in jail since the 2024 protests.
⁰🚨New detentions every week in 2025.
🚨 Foreigners used as hostages… https://t.co/VAGF0NM2AW
The UN Human Rights Council concludes that the "only hope for victims to find justice lies within the international community."
I guess we will, indeed, see what happens in Venezuela.
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