247 - US President Donald Trump said on Thursday (23) that military operations against alleged drug cartels will enter a new land phase, after weeks of naval and air attacks in the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean.

According to him, the White House will inform Congress of the actions, but the government will not request a formal declaration of war, dispensing with traditional legislative approval for military endeavors.

"Well, I don't think we're necessarily going to ask for a declaration of war. I think we're just going to kill people who are bringing drugs into our country, right? We're going to kill them," Trump told reporters at the White House, as reported by Reuters.

Since early September, the U.S. military has carried out a series of bombings against vessels classified as"suspected drug trafficking vessels," resulting in the deaths of nearly 40 people, according to the Pentagon. Some of the attacks occurred near Venezuela, further heightening tensions with Caracas.

Trump stated that, after the naval actions, the offensive will also move to the mainland.

“Now they [the drugs] are coming by land... you know, land will be next,” he added.

The announcement reinforces the increasingly militarized tone of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America, especially after the administration deployed guided-missile destroyers, F-35 fighter jets, a nuclear submarine and thousands of troops to the Caribbean region in recent weeks.

Maduro reacts

In response, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro made a statement in Caracas warning that a possible US incursion into the country would provoke a national uprising.

"If the United States ever intervenes in our country, the working class will rise up and an insurrectionary general strike will be declared in the streets until power is regained," he stated. "Millions of men and women with rifles would march across the country."

The military escalation comes days after Reuters revealed that two suspected drug traffickers survived a US raid in the Caribbean. They were rescued and taken to a US Navy ship before being repatriated to their home countries, Colombia and Ecuador.

During the same White House event, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth defended the decision to repatriate survivors, comparing the procedure to that adopted in previous conflicts in the Middle East.