Source: Eunomia
by Daniel Larison
“A cartel war is guaranteed to fail because the illicit drug trade is not something that can be fixed by military means. It is setting the U.S. military up for another mission that is doomed from the start. Most of the discussion of a possible cartel war has focused on Mexico, but it seems that Venezuela is more likely to be the first target. Perhaps the Trump administration thinks that it would be easier to sell launching attacks in Venezuela because the country is under severe U.S. sanctions and its government has been a target of Trump’s earlier regime change policy. Venezuela hawks in the administration, including Marco Rubio, probably see a cartel war as a way to get Trump on board with some form of military intervention in the country.” (08/19/25)
https://daniellarison.substack.com/p/the-cartel-war-is-about-to-start