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The administration’s allegations stand in sharp contrast to findings in both the United Nations World Drug Report and the European Drug Reports of 2025, neither of which include Venezuela as a producer of illegal drugs and only a minor transit hub. Yet, in the face of these facts, Trump alleges that Venezuela’s president Nicolás Maduro directs the criminal gangs Tren de Aragua and Cartel de los Soles. The latter may not even exist, according to drug-cartel experts.

Trump’s pretense for military action should remind Americans of the lie scripted by the Bush administration in 2003 to sell the Weapons of Mass Distraction (WMD) claim to justify the US invasion of Iraq. A war that cost our nation dearly in lives and resources.

If Trump was genuinely concerned about the drug epidemic and its tragic consequences he would acknowledge that the solution to our drug problem lies within our own borders. Start by making treatment for those addicted free and accessible. And to prevent drug use, start a public service media ad campaign to educate and warn people about the dangers of addiction. Mexico, a base for drug cartels, effectively employs such a media program as well as harm reduction services. Mexico’s drug-related deaths are negligible ¬– less than one per hundred thousand. The US rate in 2020 was 26 per 100,000. Yet Trump is wasting billions on a military buildup in the Caribbean and his war on Venezuela that could be better spent on such programs.

Trump’s military aggression toward Venezuela follows two decades of US interference in the nation’s internal affairs. Since the 1999 electoral victory of Hugo Chavez as Venezuela’s president that ushered in the Bolivarian Revolution, and what he called 21st Century Socialism, US administrations have sought regime change. The US imposes severe economic sanctions, impounds foreign assets and interferes in Venezuela’s internal politics.

That said Chavez’s socialist vision and the policies of the current government should be subject to fair-minded debate and criticism. However, the absurd claim that Maduro heads a narco-state is just another Trump lie. Americans are not buying it. As the above poll shows, Americans think the future of Venezuela should be left to Venezuelans not the US military.

The deployment of a US aircraft carrier group in November and recent buildup of more troops and weaponry signals the administration is readying to launch an unprovoked attack on a peaceful nation. Is anyone thinking of the consequences for US military personnel and for the 30 million people of Venezuela?

Illegal and unconstitutional actions by the Trump administration are no longer surprising. A case in point is the callous extrajudicial killing of alleged narco-traffickers on vessels in the Caribbean that shows utter disregard for international law. Each vessel blown up further diminishes our nation’s already low ethical standing around the world. And last week, the Trump team of Rubio and Hegseth conducted what amounts to theft of Venezuelan oil using the US military to seize oil tankers.

Instead of threatening regime change, our nation’s interests would be better served by removing economic sanctions on Venezuela and negotiating mutually beneficial trade relations. Trade that could create US manufacturing jobs in industries supplying mining and fossil fuel equipment as well as opportunities to invest in Venezuela’s potential to supply vital minerals.

Endless wars over the past few decades have added trillions to our nation’s debt burden. Americans say they are tired of it. The US defense budget is now $1 trillion annually and consumes nearly 60 percent of discretionary federal tax dollars. Tax dollars that should and could be invested to re-build domestic manufacturing and fund universal healthcare and affordable childcare to reduce the stress families face.

We need a foreign policy of cooperation, diplomacy and mutually beneficial trade. The first step toward that goal is to demand that our government respect the self-determination and sovereignty of other nations, including Venezuela, just as we expect them to do.