NEW: Dem Senator Backs Military Action Against Venezuelan Drug Cartels

A Democrat Senator broke with his party in backing President Donald Trump’s historic decision to target Venezuelan drug cartels with military action on Tuesday.

On Tuesday evening, President Donald Trump announced that military strikes had been authorized on a drug trafficking boat with links to the Venezuelan regime. While speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, the president bluntly stated that the military “literally shot out a boat—a drug-carrying boat.”

According to the White House, the boat was loaded with narcotics and armed drug traffickers.

The strike was not an isolated maneuver but part of a larger U.S. buildup in the region. Over recent months, Washington has deployed a formidable array of assets to waters off Venezuela, including Aegis-equipped destroyers, an amphibious squadron, and a nuclear submarine. The force is supported by P-8 surveillance aircraft, helicopters, and Tomahawk-capable platforms, along with roughly 4,000 to 4,500 personnel.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Wednesday strikes against Venezuelan drug-trafficking organizations — which have been designated as terrorist organizations — will continue. The news was met with support from Senator John Fetterman (D-PA), who wrote, “Fully support confronting the scourge of cartel drug trafficking to our nation,” in response to the secretary’s statement.

The strike killed 11 members of the ultra-violent Tren de Aragua street gang, which is heavily involved in drug trafficking, according to the State Department.   “We’re not going to sit back anymore and watch these people sail up and down the Caribbean like a cruise,” Rubio said.

“The president of the United States has determined that narco-terrorist organizations pose a threat to the national security of the United States. I don’t need to explain to you why,” the secretary added.

“These are not stockbrokers. These are not real estate agents who, on the side, deal a few drugs. These are organized, corporate, structured organizations who specialize in the trafficking of deadly drugs into the United States of America,” Rubio said. “They pose an immediate threat to the United States. Period.”

He further argued that the previous policy of search and seizure was ineffective.

“Because these drug cartels, what they do is they know they’re going to lose 2% of their cargo — they bake it into their economics,” he said. “What will stop them is when you blow them up, when you get rid of them.”