The Trump administration's deployment of troops and vessels in the Caribbean has effectively shut down a busy drug-trafficking corridor in the region, experts said.
The Miami Herald spoke to different experts about the matter, with one claiming the operation is having a "real impact" on Venezuela's Cartel de los Soles, which the administration accuses Venezuela's authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro of leading along with other top officials.
"The Caribbean is totally controlled; not a single boat is leaving. The cash flow from trafficking is under direct threat, and that puts the cohesion of the military elite at risk. In three months they won't have funds to pay the generals," one people with direct knowledge of the group's operations told the outlet.
The outlet added that the operation's first goal is cutting off drug revenue granting loyalty from Venezuela's top military ranks. Cartel leaders have reportedly sought to use land and air routes in turn, working with Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, but they are more expensive. "The real financial collapse will hit in the final quarter of the year," another person added.
Tensions escalated further in the past hours, with President Donald Trump reportedly declaring 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 that five U.S. jets approached the country's coastline on Thursday, an action he described as "military harassment."
"I am denouncing this military harassment in front of the world," the official said in a televised address. "This is a great threat."
Padrino didn't specify where the incident took place nor if the country's authoritarian government will respond to the sorties.
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