Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro requested "special support" from Pope Leo XIV to "consolidate peace" in the country as the U.S. continues to ramp up pressure on the regime through a military deployment in the Caribbean and strikes on vessels.
Foreign Minister Yvan Gil confirmed the country's ambassador to the Vatican delivered a letter with that purpose to its Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin. Gil did not provide additional details about the request.
Maduro is seeking the support of the pontiff as the U.S. continues to ramp up pressure on the regime through a military deployment in the Caribbean and strikes on vessels. The latest on took place last Friday, with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saying that "on President Trump's orders," he directed a "lethal, kinetic strike on a narco-trafficking vessel affiliated with Designated Terrorist Organizations in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility."
He went on to detail that four people were killed in the strike, which was conducted "just off the coast of Venezuela while the vessel was transporting substantial amounts of narcotics - headed to America to poison our people."
"Our intelligence, without a doubt, confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, the people onboard were narco-terrorists, and they were operating on a known narco-trafficking transit route. These strikes will continue until the attacks on the American people are over!!!!" Hegseth concluded.
Two days earlier, Trump declared cartels as unlawful combatants and said the U.S. is now in a "non-international armed conflict" with them.
The Associated Press detailed that the decision was notified to Congress members on Wednesday. Some lawmakers briefed on the decision, however, voiced their frustration at the Pentagon's inability to provide a list of the designated terrorist organizations in the conflict, the report added.
The outlet also noted that senators believe the decision shows the administration is seeking a new legal framework for its actions in the Caribbean, which includes several strikes against vessels it has claimed were carrying drugs and drug-traffickers.
Moreover, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez claimed on Thursday that five U.S. jets approached the country's coastline on Thursday, an action he described as "military harassment."
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