WASHINGTON—As Republican lawmakers continue to support the Trump administration's military operations against Venezuelan-based drug cartels, Florida Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D), who also backs the targeting of drug traffickers, opposes U.S. ground troops in Venezuela.
“Obviously, I’m for being very strong on the drug cartels," Rep. Moskowitz told The Floridian. "I don’t support an invasion of Venezuela. I don’t support troops on the ground in Venezuela. I don’t think that would be the right approach."
Rep. Moskowitz added that he doesn't believe the nation would support military incursion into Venezuela, and also questioned if Americans really even cared about "blowing up a boat here and there."
“I don’t know that we can start launching military action on land. We have covert operations, CIA, that’s different. But the military itself should not be going on land. There are other ways in which we can fight the cartels," Moskowitz added.
Americans may prove Moskowitz right.
In a recent Reuters/Ipsos public opinion survey of 4,434 conducted earlier in December, 45 percent of those polled supported military action "near" Venezuela against drug traffickers, while 36 percent opposed the kinetic action. Another 19 percent were not sure about support or opposing the targeting of the drug cartels.
The poll asked particpants if the U.S. military should “use force near Venezuela to reduce illegal drug flow.” 4
Wbile Moskowitz supports the targeting of drug traffickers, many Democratic lawmakers have come out in opposition of the military operations.
Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R) praised President Trump's but also outlined that while Democrats backed former President Barack Obama's targeting of Islamic terrorists in Syria, Libya, Afghanistan, and in other parts of the world during his term in office, they opposed the killing of narco terrorists responsible for the deaths of 10s of thousands of Americans.
“It's interesting that the Democrats are pushing back on taking out literally the folks that are bringing poison to the United States. The president has designated these narco cartels, rightfully so, as terrorist organizations. I remember, you know, President Obama was very aggressive in using the U.S. military to take out terrorists, including, by the way, remember, he killed a 16-year-old American citizen. And I never criticized President Obama for taking out terrorists,” Rep. Díaz-Balart remarked. “It's ironic that the Democrats are complaining about taking out, you know, narco boats coming to the United States.”
The tension betweeen the U.S. and Venezuela continues to escalate as the military inches closer to possibly negotiating targets on land in Venezuela.
