Overview
- State Department officials say the FTO designation will take effect Nov. 24 and describe the cartel as run by Maduro and senior regime figures.
- President Trump said Maduro “would like to talk” and that discussions are possible, while noting no decision has been made.
- The USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group has entered the Caribbean to support counter-narcotics operations, the Navy confirmed.
- U.S. Southern Command reported a recent Eastern Pacific strike on a narcotics vessel in international waters that killed three men.
- Venezuela has protested the U.S. posture, with CNN reporting a military mobilization after officials denounced an “imperialist threat.”