The Pentagon presented Trump with options for potential strikes against Venezuela

Senior Pentagon officials presented the president on Wednesday with options for potential operations in Venezuela, including land strikes in the coming days, CBS reported on Thursday. According to her sources, no final decision on the use of force was made at the meeting.

CBS reported that Wednesday's meeting at the White House was attended by, among others: Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine.

They were to “inform the president on military options for the coming days” in the context of possible strikes against Venezuela. Two sources told CBS that no final decision has been made in the case. Representatives of the intelligence services were also supposed to provide Donald Trump with information about potential operations.

The fact of the meeting on Venezuela in the White House was confirmed to PAP by a representative of the US administration, but did not reveal details on the matter.

The meeting took place after the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford and the accompanying ships from the strike group arrived in the Caribbean Sea. There are already eight warships, a nuclear submarine and F-35 fighter jets in the Caribbean region. According to previous reports by the Wall Street Journal, the military had previously presented a list of military facilities in Venezuela that were to be used for drug smuggling.

President Trump has already announced that in addition to striking drug smugglers' boats – at least 21 boats have already been hit – he also intends to strike on land and will inform Congress about it.

– I don't think we should necessarily demand a declaration of war. I think we'll just kill people. Okay? We will kill them. They will be, you know, dead, the president said.

Although Trump did not specify where he planned to strike, he has said in the past that he may carry out attacks against gangs on Venezuelan land territory. Most of the strikes on boats believed to be carrying drugs occurred off the country's coast. The Trump administration accuses Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro of masterminding drug smuggling.

In recent weeks, Trump has consistently refused to say whether he has decided to attack Venezuela, but in answering these questions, in addition to the issue of drug smuggling, he blamed the Venezuelan authorities for deliberately sending illegal immigrants to the US, including criminals and the mentally ill.

From Washington Oskar Górzyński (PAP)

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