Many things are sure to come out of the U.S. on Venezuela Saturday and according to Vice President JD Vance, one benefit will be a decrease in fentanyl trafficking into the U.S.
Vance went on social media to defend the strike and subsequent capture of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, per Politico.
Vance’s words come on the heels of some Republican lawmakers being skeptical of using the fentanyl crisis as justification for the attack.
The majority of fentanyl comes from Mexico and China, per federal law enforcement.
However, Vance said some fentanyl comes to the U.S. via Venezuela, adding cocaine trafficking from Venezuela helps cartels. Maduro was indicted on narcoterrorism charges and conspiracy to import cocaine when he arrivved in the U.S. on Saturday.
“You see a lot claims that Venezuela has nothing to do with drugs because most of the fentanyl comes from elsewhere. I want to address this,” Vance wrote on X.
“First off, fentanyl isn’t the only drug in the world and there is still fentanyl coming from Venezuela (or at least there was),” Vance wrote.
“Second, cocaine, which is the main drug trafficked out of Venezuela, is a profit center for all of the Latin America cartels. If you cut out the money from cocaine (or even reduce it) you substantially weaken the cartels overall. Also, cocaine is bad too!” the vice president continued.
“Third, yes, a lot of fentanyl is coming out of Mexico,” Vance wrote. “That continues to be a focus of our policy in Mexico and is a reason why President Trump shut the border on day one.”
“Fourth, I see a lot of criticism about oil. About 20 years ago, Venezuela expropriated American oil property and until recently used that stolen property to get rich and fund their narcoterrorist activities,” he added. “I understand the anxiety over the use of military force, but are we just supposed to allow a communist to steal our stuff in our hemisphere and do nothing? Great powers don’t act like that.”
He summed up his post by praising President Donald Trump.
“The United States, thanks to President Trump’s leadership, is a great power again. Everyone should take note,” Vance concluded.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) spoke out against Saturday’s attack and what Vance said with a post on X.
“Wake up MAGA. VENEZUELA is not about drugs; it’s about OIL and REGIME CHANGE. This is not what we voted for,” Massie wrote.
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Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), another Trump adversary, weighed in on the matter before leaving Congress Monday.
“The majority of American fentanyl overdoses and deaths come from Mexico. Those are the Mexican cartels that are killing Americans,” Greene said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “And so my pushback here is if this was really about narcoterrorists and about protecting Americans from cartels and drugs being brought into America, the Trump administration would be attacking the Mexican cartels.”
Vance did acknowledge “a lot of fentanyl is coming out of Mexico,” which “continues to be a focus.”
He explained Trump’s actions to restrict immigration on the southern border is a primary response to the flow of fentanyl from Mexico.
