Overview

• The White House notice labels cartel suspects as “illegal combatants” and recasts three September boat attacks as lawful wartime operations with 17 fatalities.
• Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López says a state-of-external-commotion decree is advancing and warns of a potential nationwide mobilization if the country is attacked.
• Caracas reports five U.S. combat aircraft, reportedly F-35s operating from Puerto Rico, near its coast and denounces the flights as a provocation.
• U.S. deployments now include at least eight warships, a nuclear-powered attack submarine, F-35B jets staged in Puerto Rico, and more than 4,500 personnel in the Caribbean.
• Legal experts call the wartime framing against cartels unprecedented and raise concerns about congressional authorization and the criteria for targeting.