Retired US Marines Colonel Mark Cancian told The Mirror it was not impossible “wild card” cartels could “attack a resort with US citizens” as revenge for strikes on Venezuela
Vicious “wild card” cartels could ambush American tourists at plush resorts if Donald Trump follows through with strikes on Venezuela.
The scene has been set for a major escalation in the Caribbean after the Trump administration announced it would skewer narco-gangsters following deadly strikes on suspected drug boats off the coast of Venezuela. Since the first strikes in August, dozens of people have been killed with remains washing up on beaches of nearly islands.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced the Trump would ratchet up efforts to defend the US via Operation Southern Spear. In the post shared to X/Twitter, he said: “Led by Joint Task Force Southern Spear and @SOUTHCOM, this mission defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people. The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighbourhood – and we will protect it.”
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Trump has long railed against cartels funnelling in deadly opioids, particularly fentanyl, into the US that has killed tens of thousands of Americans in 2024 alone. But in a controversial move, President Trump has talked up removing Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro who has been accused of allowing cartels to operate with impunity.
Retired US Marines Colonel and senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies think tank in Washington DC Mark Cancian told The Mirror Trump would likely order strikes against the cartels as well as headquarters operated by the Maduro regime in the event of an attack on Venezuela.
The might of the US Navy, including the recent addition of the USS Gerald R Ford, in the Caribbean has significantly enhanced American firepower in the region. Cancian said the first set of targets could be “production facilities, remote airfields, port warehouses, ship building facilities that the cartels use.”
While the Maduro regime could collapse under sustained bombardment, Cancian warned cartels are a more loose network without a single figurehead, making them unpredictable. The cartels have not responded with force following US strikes, but Cancian acknowledged a “wild card” scenario where attacks against Americans on vacation could be a possibility.
Speaking to The Mirror, Cancian said: “The wild card in all of this is the cartels. So far the cartels have kept their head down. They’ve not reacted in pushing boats forward but they haven’t taken any action against the United States. That could happen.
“The cartels are not a unified actor and there are elements within the cartels, the cartels are extremely violent. It’s not impossible that one of them would strike at the United States, maybe ambushing a military convoy on Puerto Rico, maybe attacking a resort with US citizens in it and if that happens it would change the whole complexion of the campaign.”
Should cartels launch an attack against American civilians or military personnel it would be impossible for Trump to ignore. Cancian added in this scenario, ground forces could be sent into crush any further threat from the cartels.
“If the cartels murdered American citizens President Trump is likely to respond with attacks on the cartels in an extended air campaign and maybe expanding to a ground campaign,” Cancian said. “He would regard that as such a provocation that he would not ignore it. That would be the kind of incident, the murder of innocent civilians that would get the public to support actions against the cartels.”
While attacks against cartels that target innocent Americans would have widespread support, it is unclear whether the US public would readily back strikes against Venezuela to begin with. Millions of Americans voted to send Trump back to the White House for a second term due to his pledge to end lengthy US involvement in foreign wars.