Rubio calls transnational criminal groups biggest Western threat to the US

Secretary of State Marco Rubio called transnational terrorist criminal organizations “the single most serious threat” to the U.S. coming from the Western Hemisphere.

“When it comes to the Western Hemisphere, the single most serious threat to the United States from the Western Hemisphere is from transnational terrorist criminal groups primarily focused on narco-trafficking,” Rubio told reporters Friday.

He praised several nations, including Mexico, Ecuador, El Salvador, Panama, Costa Rica, Trinidad and the Dominican Republic, among others, for helping the U.S. combat the threat. The secretary also went on to slam nations he said not only refuse to cooperate with the U.S. but actively work with criminal elements, such as Venezuela.

“There’s one place that doesn’t cooperate, and it’s the illegitimate regime in Venezuela,” Rubio said. “Not only did it not cooperate with us, they openly cooperate with terrorist and criminal elements. For example, they invite Hezbollah and Iran to operate from their territory.”

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Rubio also said that Venezuela had been openly working with narco-trafficking elements that use the country as a transshipment point.

“Our interest in Venezuela and in the region is the national interest of the United States. And in Venezuela we have an illegitimate regime that not only does not cooperate with the United States but only openly cooperates with narco-terrorists and others who threaten the national security of our country,” Rubio later added.

President Donald Trump has recently taken other actions against Venezuela. On Tuesday, he ordered a total blockade of oil tankers entering or leaving Venezuela, declaring the Nicolás Maduro regime a foreign terrorist organization and accusing it of using stolen U.S. assets to finance terrorism, trafficking and other criminal activity.

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“The illegitimate Maduro regime is using oil from these stolen oil fields to finance themselves, drug terrorism, human trafficking, murder, and kidnapping,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “For the theft of our assets, and many other reasons, including terrorism, drug smuggling, and human trafficking, the Venezuelan regime has been designated a FOREIGN TERRORIST ORGANIZATION.”

The president later announced that the U.S. had seized an oil tanker called the “Skipper” off the coast of Venezuela. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the “Skipper” was detained because it was allegedly being used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela to Iran.

The Trump administration has embarked on an anti-narco-trafficking campaign that has included strikes on suspected drug boats and classifying certain cartels as terror organizations.

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While the drug boat strikes have sparked backlash, the administration has largely defended its actions. Rubio acknowledged the strikes as part of a larger goal of the U.S. changing what he called the “intolerable” status quo relationship with Venezuela.

“It is clear that the current status quo with the Venezuelan regime is intolerable for the United States. The status quo that they operate and cooperate with terrorist organizations against the national interests of the United States, not just cooperate, but partner with and participate in activities that threaten the national interests of the United States. So, yes, our goal is to change that dynamic, and that’s why the president’s doing what he’s doing, change that dynamic by ensuring that no one wants to get on drug boats anymore,” Rubio said.

The designation of cartels as terror organizations has been a major basis for the Trump administration’s actions against drug boats. The U.S. has conducted dozens of strikes on suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Eastern Pacific and Caribbean to dismantle narco-terrorist networks, targeting groups such as Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua (TdA) and Colombia’s Ejército de Liberación Nacional (ELN). TdA was reclassified a foreign terrorist organization in February 2025.

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The campaign began Sept. 2 with the Trump administration’s first publicly acknowledged strike on a suspected drug boat in the Caribbean Sea. That strike has since become controversial due to a second missile that was fired at the boat, killing the only two survivors of the initial hit. The White House confirmed and defended the second strike on Dec. 1 as part of the administration’s effort to cut off the flow of drugs into the country.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth recently announced that, despite demands from lawmakers and the media, the Pentagon would not release the “top secret, full, unedited video” of the Sept. 2 strikes. However, he said that “appropriate” congressional committees would see the footage.

Fox News Digital’s Greg Wehner and Bonny Chu contributed to this report.