The Trump administration sent a memo to Congress declaring that the country is in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels.
The memo, obtained by Fox News, says President Trump “directed these actions consistent with his responsibility to protect Americans and United States interests abroad and in furtherance of United States national security and foreign policy interests, pursuant to his constitutional authority as Commander in Chief and Chief Executive to conduct foreign relations.”
According to the notice, cartels, which have been designated as terrorist organizations, “have grown more armed, well-organized, and violent.” These entities “have the financial means, sophistication, and paramilitary capabilities needed to operate with impunity.”
“They illegally and directly cause the deaths of tens of thousands of American citizens each year,” the memo explains. “Although friendly foreign nations have made significant efforts to combat these organizations, suffering significant losses of life, these groups are now transnational and conduct ongoing attacks throughout the Western Hemisphere in the form of organized cartels. Therefore, the President determined these cartels are non-state armed groups, designated them as terrorist organizations, and determined that their actions constitute an armed attack against the United States.”
Describing last month’s strike on a vessel, the notice says, “The vessel was assessed by the U.S. intelligence community to be affiliated with a designated terrorist organization and, at the time, engaged in trafficking illicit drugs, which could eventually kill Americans.”
Separately, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is wanted by the U.S. government under its narcotics rewards program.
“Maduro helped manage and ultimately lead the Cartel of the Suns, a Venezuelan drug-trafficking organization comprised of high-ranking Venezuelan officials,” the State Department says, adding that Maduro “negotiated multi-ton shipments of FARC-produced cocaine; directed the Cartel of the Suns to provide military-grade weapons to the FARC; coordinated with narcotics traffickers in Honduras and other countries to facilitate large-scale drug trafficking; and solicited assistance from FARC leadership in training an unsanctioned militia group that functioned, in essence, as an armed forces unit for the Cartel of the Suns.”
