close Video

NEW You can now listen to Fox News articles!

The unprecedented strikes by U.S. Marines on a cartel-operated vessel off of Venezuela this week signaled that the Trump administration is taking a hard new approach when it comes to countering the international drug trade.

While the U.S. military has long worked to counter cartel and international gang organizations beginning in the late 1980s, the Tuesday strike that killed 11 members of Tren de Aragua – which the Trump administration designated as a terrorist organization in February – marked a definite shift from previous seize and apprehend operations.

"The gloves are off," Isaias Medina, former Venezuelan UN diplomat turned Caracas dissident under the Nicholas Maduro regime, told Fox News Digital. "The recent U.S.

See Full Page