A new Reuters/Ipsos poll has found just 21% of Americans support the idea of using the US military to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, results that come amid a series of reports that the Trump administration is considering a regime change war in Venezuela.
The results are similar to a YouGov poll conducted in September that found just 18% of Americans supported using the military to carry out regime change in Venezuela. The Reuters/Ipsos poll found that 31% of respondents would favor ousting Maduro through other means, but sanctions and US-backed coups in recent years have failed to remove the Venezuelan leader.
The Reuters/Ipsos poll also found that the majority of Americans, 51%, oppose using the military to conduct executions of suspected drug traffickers without a judge or a court being involved, a rejection of the Trump administration’s bombing campaign against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific Ocean.
Just 29% of respondents said they support the US military conducting the extrajudicial executions. The policy had more support among Republicans, with 58% favoring the executions and 27% of GOP members opposed. Three-quarters of Democrats said they opposed the killings.
The US has continued to significantly build up its forces in the Caribbean, including the deployment of an aircraft carrier, as President Trump has been briefed on options for attacking Venezuela, ranging from limited strikes on military targets to sending troops to capture airfields and oil fields.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is leading the push toward war with Venezuela, is creating the pretext for attacks targeting Maduro by declaring that he is the leader of the so-called Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, a group that doesn’t actually exist.
The term “Cartel of the Suns” was first used in the 1990s to describe two Venezuelan military generals with sun insignias on their uniforms who were involved in the drug trade. One of the generals was working with the CIA at the time, according to a 1993 60 Minutes report. Today, the term is used to describe Venezuelan military and government officials who allegedly profit from drug trafficking, but the Cartel of the Suns doesn’t exist as a structured organization.
Rubio has said that his State Department will label the Cartel of the Suns as a “Foreign Terrorist Organization” on November 24. President Trump has said that he believes that designation gives him the authorization to launch strikes on the Maduro government, but any attack without congressional authorization would be illegal under the US Constitution.
