Trump thông báo các cuộc tấn công quân sự trên bộ của Mỹ vào Venezuela sẽ bắt đầu "rất sớm"

President Trump said during a Thanksgiving Day call to military service members on November 27, 2025, that the U.S. would "very soon" begin land-based action against alleged Venezuelan drug trafficking networks, adding that "the land is easier." The remarks were made informally during a holiday morale call rather than in a formal White House statement, Pentagon briefing, or congressional notification. CNN reported the full quote at https://www.cnn.com/2025/11/27/politics/trump-says-us-land-action-in-venezuela-very-soon on the same day.

Operation Southern Spear began September 2, 2025, when the U.S. military struck a vessel in the Caribbean Sea that the Trump administration said was affiliated with the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Trump sent Congress a War PowersWar PowersThe constitutional division of war-making power between Congress and the President.Key ConceptWar PowersThe constitutional division of war-making power between Congress and the President.Open conceptBookmark Resolution notification on September 4, 2025, citing Article II commander-in-chief authority as the legal basis per https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/trump-offers-first-legal-justification-for-venezuela-boat-strike. That notification started the 60-day clock under 50 U.S.C. 1544(b), which expired November 3, 2025.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth formally announced Operation Southern Spear on November 13, 2025, describing it as targeting narco-terrorists in the Western Hemisphere. By the time of Trump's Thanksgiving announcement, the U.S. had conducted more than 20 lethal strikes on alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, killing approximately 79 people the administration said were traffickers.

The War Powers Resolution of 1973, codified at 50 U.S.C. 1541-1548 per https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=%2Fprelim%40title50%2Fchapter33&edition=prelim, requires the president to terminate hostilities within 60 days of a War Powers notification unless Congress issues a declaration of war or specific AUMF. Congress has never passed an AUMF covering Venezuela. Nixon vetoed the resolution on October 24, 1973; Congress overrode it 284-135 in the House and 75-18 in the Senate on November 7, 1973.

Senator Tim Kaine's War Powers Resolution, S.J.Res. 90 at https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/senate-joint-resolution/90/text, failed in the Senate 49-51 on November 6, 2025. Only two Republicans voted for it: Sen. Rand Paul (KY) and Sen. Lisa Murkowski (AK). CBS News reported at https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-war-powers-vote-venezuela-drug-boats-military-strikes/ that administration officials had privately told lawmakers in a classified briefing they were not planning land strikes inside Venezuela and lacked a legal justification for them.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio designated Tren de Aragua as a Foreign Terrorist Organization on February 20, 2025, under Section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act. NPR reported at https://www.npr.org/2025/04/08/g-s1-58849/tren-de-aragua-presence-reality-check that experts called TdA's U.S. footprint significantly smaller than federal officials claimed, and a ProPublica investigation found deportees labeled as gang members had no criminal records and none appeared on Venezuelan or Interpol gang rosters.

Trump confirmed on October 15, 2025, that he had authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela through a presidential finding. Former CIA analyst Ned Price told AP News at https://apnews.com/article/trump-cia-covert-operations-venezuela-ecb477ac7f07d5beaf48d44dee75c5e5 the administration appeared to want the disclosure public for psychological effect against Maduro.

The U.S.-Venezuela relationship deteriorated over decades. Obama-era sanctions targeted individual officials after disputed 2013-2014 elections. Trump's first term imposed sector-wide sanctions on PDVSA in 2019, recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as interim president per https://www.congress.gov/crs-product/R44841, and placed Venezuela under a comprehensive economic embargo. CITGO, Venezuela's U.S. refining subsidiary, was severed from PDVSA. Guaido's recognition collapsed after he failed to consolidate power; Maduro remained in office.

The Obama administration used an identical no-hostilities legal argument in 2011 to continue Libya airstrikes past the War Powers Resolution's 60-day limit. PolitiFact found at https://www.politifact.com/article/2011/jun/22/are-us-actions-in-libya-subject-to-the-war-powers-resolution/ not one independent legal expert who endorsed the argument. The Trump administration's DOJ made the same argument in November 2025, stating drone strikes involving unmanned vehicles don't constitute hostilities.

Operation Absolute Resolve, launched January 3, 2026, deployed Delta Force commandos to capture Maduro in Caracas. The U.S. military bombed air defense infrastructure across northern Venezuela. Venezuela's Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello stated that more than 100 people were killed per https://www.cnbc.com/2026/01/07/us-venezuela-military-operation-maduro-injuries-casualties.html; seven U.S. service members were injured. China, Russia, and dozens of Latin American governments condemned the operation as a violation of UN Charter Article 2(4).