Trump says Venezuela anti-drug operations 'by land' to begin 'soon'

PALM BEACH, Nov 28 (AFP): US President Donald Trump said Thursday that efforts to halt Venezuelan drug trafficking "by land" would begin "very soon," further ratcheting up tensions with Caracas, which claims the anti-drug campaign aims at regime change.

Trump made the remarks while video conferencing with deployed US troops to mark the Thanksgiving holiday.

Several of the US military groups that Trump addressed were actively participating in his anti-drug operation, dubbed "Southern Spear," which has seen a large military buildup in the Caribbean.

Addressing a Texas-based Air Force bombing unit, Trump, reading from prepared remarks, said: "In recent weeks, you've been working to deter Venezuelan drug traffickers, of which there are many."

It was not immediately clear what actions Trump was specifically referencing.

The US military has carried out a series of airstrikes against boats it claims were trafficking drugs in international waters, without offering evidence to back up its claims.

Those strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific have killed at least 83 people, according to an AFP tally of publicly released figures.

Washington has also carried out multiple shows of aerial force in the region in recent weeks, with B-52 and B-1B bombers flying near Venezuela's coast.

Elaborating on US efforts to halt drug trafficking, Trump said: "We've almost stopped -- it's about 85 percent stopped by sea."

"You probably noticed that people aren't wanting to be delivering by sea, and we'll be starting to stop them by land," he said.