US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has said he was considering strikes targeting Venezuelan cartels on land after a series of deadly strikes at sea against what he alleges are boats carrying drugs.

“We are certainly looking at land now, because we’ve got the sea very well under control,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office, when asked if he was weighing strikes on land.

The comments came after a New York Times report that claimed Trump had secretly authorised the CIA to conduct covert action in Venezuela against the administration of President Nicolas Maduro.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office alongside FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi, Trump was questioned about the New York Times report.

“Why did you authorise the CIA to go into Venezuela?” a reporter asked.

“I authorised for two reasons really,” Trump said in a rare example from a US president about the spy agency’s normamly secretive activities.

“Number one, they [Venezuela] have emptied their prisons into the United States of America.”

He added: “And the other thing are drugs. We have a lot of drugs coming in from Venezuela, and a lot of the Venezuelan drugs come in through the sea, so you get to see that, but we’re going to stop them by land also.”

Asked if he had given the CIA authority to “take out” Maduro, Trump replied:

That’s a ridiculous question for me to be given. Not really a ridiculous question, but wouldn’t it be a ridiculous question for me to answer?

Trump said yesterday that another strike on boats allegedly transporting drugs from Venezuela had killed six “narcoterrorists.”

At least 27 people have been killed so far in such attacks. Experts question the legality of using lethal force in foreign or international waters against suspects who have not been intercepted or questioned.

Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro has said he believes some of those killed were Colombian.

– © AFP2025