Senate: Democratic resolution seeking to limit Trump's powers in his war on narco-terrorists fails

In a close 51-48 vote, Republicans in the Senate, with the support of Democrat John Fetterman (Pa./Pennsylvania), blocked a Democratic-driven resolution seeking to limit President Donald Trump's broad war powers and curb bombing raids against narcoterrorists.

The measure, introduced by Sen. Adam Schiff (D-CA) and co-sponsored by Tim Kaine (D-VA), Bernie Sanders (I-VT)and Ron Wyden (D-OR), aimed to stop the Trump Administration's lethal strikes against suspected Venezuelan drug smugglers in the Caribbean Sea. Republicans Lisa Murkowski and Rand Paul were the only ones to join the Democratic effort, but Fetterman's vote effectively nullified their defection.

“What we are doing is a very simple, straightforward resolution that just says, Congress, be Congress,” Kaine declared before the vote. “These military actions should stop unless authorized.”

Despite the Democratic effort, the resolution's failure —although the vote reflected a near-total partisan bloc split— represents an implicit legislative endorsement of President Trump's actions against regional cartels.

Trump invokes national defense to justify lethal strikes

In recent months, after authorizing a series of lethal strikes against Venezuelan vessels in the Caribbean, Trump and his cabinet have defended the legality of the operation under the framework of the War Powers Resolution of 1973, which allows the president to employ military force without prior authorization from Congress, provided that the legislative branch is notified within the sixty-day period required by law.

According to the official notification sent by the White House, the United States is in de facto "armed conflict" with narcoterrorist organizations such as the Aragua Train and the Cartel de los Soles, both linked to the regime of Nicolás Maduro.

“The United States has now reached a critical point where we must use force in self-defense and defense of others against the ongoing attacks by these designated terrorist organizations,” the document sent by the Trump Administration to Congress reads.

According to sources cited by NBC and The New York Times, the administration is evaluating expanding the operation into Venezuelan territory, with "ground" attacks against cartel infrastructures. In recent remarks during a Navy event, Trump confirmed that the Pentagon is planning ground operations, stating that drug boats are no longer leaving by sea.

Internal division in the US over operations

While the White House fully supports and defends the legality of the operations, some lawmakers question Trump's authority to approve the strikes.

“I have no idea precisely the identities of who was on these ships, or even whether the administration knows their identities,” warned Senator Adam Schiff, while Senator Rand Paul was even more blunt: “Is it too much to ask to know the names of those we kill before we kill them, to know what evidence exists of their guilt?”

For his part, Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the administration's position before the vote:

"This resolution aims to strip President Trump of his constitutional authority to protect Americans by authorizing military strikes against narco-terrorists, the Houthis, and other Iranian proxies. This is dangerous — it puts our children, citizens, soldiers, and allies at risk."

Maduro under heavy pressure and the rise of Venezuelan drug trafficking

The hardening of Washington's strategy comes in a context of maximum pressure on the regime of Nicolás Maduro, whom the White House accuses of having turned Venezuela into a center of operations for international drug trafficking.

Reports from the DEA, the US Southern Command and the Treasury Department claim that the country has become one of the main cocaine transit routes to the US and the world, controlled to a large extent by networks linked to high-ranking military and political leaders of Chavismo.

The Cartel of the Suns, according to the US, acts as a criminal consortium within the Venezuelan Armed Forces, in charge of protecting drug shipments coming from Colombia and ensuring their passage through the country's ports and airports. Likewise, the Tren de Aragua criminal gang, which Trump included in February on the list of foreign terrorist organizations along with the Cartel of the Suns itself, has expanded throughout South America and also the US, diversifying its criminal activities and generating a growing presence in US territory.

The US offensive against these criminal groups in the Caribbean Sea, through an imposing military deployment, is also privately interpreted by some Trump Administration officials as an indirect strategy to go against the Maduro regime, which has denounced the actions as "an imperial aggression" and "an attempt at regime change".

Meanwhile, from the White House, the dictator Maduro is recognized as an "illegitimate leader", but no direct action to depose him has been confirmed —or denied.