Nicolas Maduro

A Trump administration memo obtained by The Associated Press. appears to represent an extraordinary assertion of presidential war powers, with Trump effectively declaring that trafficking of drugs into the United States amounts to armed conflict requiring the use of military force.

U.S. Sen. Ashley Moody, following the lead of President Donald Trump’s anti-drug policy, is introducing legislation to target Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and suspected drug trafficking.

President Donald Trump has sent American warships to the waters off Venezuela and has boasted about strikes on alleged drug boats.

Human Rights Watch and the Committee for the Freedom of Political Prisoners in Venezuela have documented 19 cases of detainees, many with ties to opposition political parties, who have been denied contact with their families and lawyers since their arrest.

Military officials, diplomats and analysts say a main purpose of the force is to ratchet up pressure on Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, as top figures in the Trump administration call him an illegitimate leader and accuse him of directing the actions of criminal gangs and drug cartels.

His comments at a news conference on Monday follow the U.S. boosting its maritime force in the Caribbean to combat drug cartels.

Venezuelan opposition leaders and civil society groups said that the government released 13 people jailed in a crackdown by the government of President Nicolás Maduro following last year’s disputed elections. Venezuelan authorities did not immediately confirm the releases.

The Republican Florida senator's remarks were made during a visit Wednesday to Doral to highlight recent legislative victories and ongoing efforts nationally and statewide to combat the country’s fentanyl crisis.

The United States is deploying three guided-missile destroyers to the waters off Venezuela as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to combat threats from Latin American drug cartels. That's according to a U.S. official briefed on the planning.

The president has ordered the Pentagon to use the armed forces to carry out what in the past was considered law enforcement.

The Trump administration is doubling to $50 million a reward for the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and accusing him of working with cartels to flood the U.S. with fentanyl-laced cocaine.

The report, released Monday, accuses Maduro’s administration of politically motivated arrests and widespread human rights violations following an election last July marred by allegations of fraud.