BREAKING: U.S. allegedly poised to strike military targets inside Venezuela in escalation against Maduro regime

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UPDATE: Friday, Oct. 31, 2025, 4:08 pm ET

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has blasted the Miami Herald, saying their story about potential U.S. military strikes within Venezuela is not true.

In a short post on X Friday afternoon, Rubio wrote to the Miami Herald, “Your “sources” claiming to have “knowledge of the situation” tricked you into writing a fake story.”

SEE ORIGINAL REPORT BELOW:

From the Miami Herald: The Trump Administration has made the decision to attack military installations inside Venezuela and the strikes could come at any moment, sources with knowledge of the situation told the Miami Herald, as the U.S. prepares to initiate the next stage of its campaign against the Soles drug cartel.

The planned attacks, also reported by the Wall Street Journal, will seek to destroy military installations used by the drug-trafficking organization the U.S. says is headed by Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro and run by top members of his regime.

Sources told the Herald that the targets — which could be struck by air in a matter of days or even hours — also aim to decapitate the cartel’s hierarchy. U.S. officials believe the cartel exports around 500 tons of cocaine yearly, split between Europe and the United States.

While sources declined to say whether Maduro himself is a target, one of them said his time is running out.

“Maduro is about to find himself trapped and might soon discover that he cannot flee the country even if he decided to,” the source said. “What’s worse for him, there is now more than one general willing to capture and hand him over, fully aware that one thing is to talk about death, and another to see it coming.”

On January 10 of this year, the U.S. State Department posted a reminder of the bounty placed on multiple Venezuelan officials, including $25 million leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Maduro.

In August, the Trump administration DOUBLED the bounty on Maduro, to $50 million.

“Nicolás Maduro and his cronies think they’re untouchable. They’re wrong. We’re increasing our reward offer for Maduro to up to $50 million,” the State Department Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs announced.

More from the Wall Street Journal:

The Trump administration has identified targets in Venezuela that include military facilities used to smuggle drugs, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter. If President Trump decides to move forward with airstrikes, they said, the targets would send a clear message to Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro that it is time to step down.

While the president hasn’t made a final decision on ordering land strikes, the officials said a potential air campaign would focus on targets that sit at the nexus of the drug gangs and the Maduro regime. Trump and his senior aides have been particularly focused on unsettling Maduro as the U.S. military has attacked boats allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.

Sen. Rick Scott (R-Fla.) said in a recent interview with 60 Minutes, “If I was Maduro, I’d head to Russia or China right now. His days are numbered. Something’s going to happen… whether it’s internal or external, something’s going to happen.”

In July, Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote in a statement on X, “Maduro is NOT the President of Venezuela and his regime is NOT the legitimate government. Maduro is the head of the Cartel de Los Soles, a narco-terror organization which has taken possession of a country. And he is under indictment for pushing drugs into the United States.”

READ MORE from the Miami Herald.

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