Trump says U.S. will 'very soon' stop Venezuela drug trafficking by land

The U.S. will "very soon" start taking action to stop suspected Venezuelan drug traffickers on land, U.S. President Donald Trump said on Thursday.

"You probably noticed that people aren't wanting to be delivering by sea, and we'll be starting to stop them by land also. The land is easier, but that's going to start very soon," Trump said while speaking virtually with U.S. military service members.

Reports of looming action have proliferated in recent weeks as the U.S. military deploys forces to the Caribbean amid worsening relations with Venezuela. On November 26, the U.S. Southern Command Air Force issued a statement saying that B-52H strategic bombers conducted tactical attack exercises in the Caribbean Sea. The statement said the exercises took place in international waters along the Venezuelan coastline.

The U.S. is intensifying its deployments in the Caribbean. On November 4, the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford transited the Strait of Gibraltar, heading towards the Caribbean Sea. On October 23, flight tracking data showed that at least one U.S. B-1B bomber approached the Venezuelan coast, which Trump later denied.

(With input from Reuters)