Marco Rubio Leading Push For The Ousting Of Venezuela's Maduro, Report Claims

Secretary of State Marco Rubio is leading a push to further increase pressure on Venezuela's authoritarian government in order to oust authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro, according to a new report.

The New York Times reported on Monday that several top officials from the Trump administration are part of the push, discussing a campaign that would further escalate military pressure on the South American country.

Rubio has been arguing that Maduro is not the country's legitimate president and oversees drug-trafficking operations to the U.S., which he described as an "imminent threat." The initiative has the support of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and CIA Director John Ratcliffe.

The U.S. Army has drawn up plans for strikes inside Venezuela, but the White House has not approved them, the outlet added. Since they claim Maduro leads a criminal organization, removing him could be framed as a counternarcotics operation.

President Donald Trump hinted at potential strikes on "land" against Venezuelan cartels on Tuesday, telling press "we'll see what happens with Venezuela." "We had a lot of drugs coming by water. We don't have any boats on the water. We hit a number of boats, Since we did that, we've had absolutely no drugs coming into the country via water because it was lethal. Now we're going to look very seriously at cartels coming by land," he said.

In this context, Maduro signed a decree that would grant him additional security powers should the country face a military incursion.

The announcement was made by Vice President Delcy Rodriguez, who said the measure "gives special powers to the head of State to act in matters of defense and safety" should the U.S. "dare to attack" the South American country.

"To activate all plans of citizen security. To activate the militia in the nation's integrated defense system. To close land, sea and air borders, to safeguard our territorial integrity and the integrity of our population," she added.