(NewsNation) — The U.S. is conducting joint training exercises in Panama as President Donald Trump expands his military presence in the Caribbean amid rising tension with Venezuela.
On Tuesday, 25 Panamanian personnel and 25 U.S. Marines gathered in the jungle to practice air ambulance drills simulating the extraction of injured people, according to a recent report from Reuters.
U.S. Army Captain Nelson Marchan has denied a link between the training and tensions with Venezuela; however, a U.S. official has informed NewsNation that the exercises are meant to show Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro the Trump administration is keeping an eye on the region.
Over the past three months, U.S. troops have carried out at least 21 strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and Pacific, killing at least 83 people. Some U.S. lawmakers, international organizations and human rights experts have questioned the legality of the attacks, although the Trump administration maintains it has been operating within U.S. and international law.
Land strikes in Venezuela could come ‘very soon’
The Trump administration has repeatedly alleged that Maduro is to blame for the flow of illegal narcotics in the U.S. coming from Venezuela. Recently, the administration designated the Cartel de los Soles a “foreign terrorist organization” and accused Maduro of being its leader.
In what he describes as an anti-drug trafficking campaign, Trump has deployed the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R Ford, thousands of troops and F-35 military jets to the Caribbean. Some in Washington believe this pressure is an attempt to force regime change in Venezuela.
On Tuesday, Trump threatened land strikes in Venezuela and elsewhere “very soon.”
“We’re going to start doing those strikes on land, too. You know, the land is much easier … and we know the routes they take,” Trump said. “We know everything about them. We know where they live. We know where the bad ones live. And we’re going to start that very soon, too.”
Trump said such strikes aren’t necessarily limited to Venezuela, adding that any nation where illicit drugs are made or moved could be “subject to attack” by the U.S. military.
‘It’s Congress’s prerogative to go to war’: Schumer
A bipartisan group of senators is threatening a war powers fight if Trump goes ahead with land operations without a formal vote by Congress.
“Unauthorized military action against Venezuela would be a colossal and costly mistake that needlessly risks the lives of our servicemembers,” Democrats Tim Kaine of Virginia, Chuck Schumer of New York and Adam Schiff of California and Republican Rand Paul of Kentucky said in a joint statement.
Schumer explained his stance on Tuesday, stating: “Let me be clear: if Trump were to order an attack on land, that would be an act of war, and Congress would invoke the War Powers Act. It’s Congress’s prerogative to go to war, and I hope Republicans will defend that role.”
Trump administration met with scrutiny over Sept. 2 strike
The Trump administration has dealt with scrutiny since the strikes against alleged drug boats began in September. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has defended himself from accusations of war crimes stemming from one such attack on an alleged drug boat in the Caribbean.
The White House says Navy Vice Adm. Frank Bradley, not Hegseth nor the president, personally ordered a second follow-up strike on Sept. 2, which reportedly killed remaining survivors, prompting concern that the U.S. violated laws of armed conflict.
Administration and military officials have insisted Bradley was within his authority and the law in the strikes. He is scheduled to give a classified briefing to the committees that oversee the military on Thursday as both parties investigate whether the rules of war were broken.
In an interview with Fox News on Tuesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio came to his administration’s defense, calling the current Venezuelan regime “not legitimate.”
“The president has authorized a counter-drug mission in the region,” Rubio said. “The fact that Maduro is upset about it tells you that drugs are coming out of Venezuela.”
Maduro tightens security amid threat of military intervention
Although Maduro has publicly appeared unbothered by the rising tensions between Venezuela and the U.S., a recent report from The New York Times indicates that he is tightening security measures in preparation for military intervention in his country.
Sources close to the Venezuelan government told The New York Times that Maduro has been changing sleeping locations, cellphones and bodyguards in preparation for a potential precision strike.
Reuters contributed to this report.