"US Military Strengthens Venezuela Coast Presence Despite 70% Opposition to Military Action in Latest CBS News Poll"

The U.S. military is strengthening its position off the coast of Venezuela. However, a new CBS News poll finds more than two-thirds of Americans say they are opposed to the U.S. taking military action in Venezuela. CBS's Charlie Daggett is following the building tension from San Juan, Puerto Rico. The U.S. military pressure bearing down on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is about to enter a dramatic new phase as the drug cartel he's accused of being linked to is officially designated as a foreign terrorist organization. In its latest show of force in this region, the U.S. Air Force shared new images of B-52 bombers conducting a nighttime attack demo along the coast of Venezuela. Designating the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization raises the stakes for Maduro, says Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. We want to make sure the president has options to include doing a whole lot, to include doing, you know, the cartel mission that we're doing there as well. So nothing's off the table, but nothing's automatically on the table. Among those options, the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier with its squadrons of F-18 fighter jets already running exercises. In the city of Aguadilla, we found other weapons in the growing arsenal. And those are the MQ-9 Reaper drones. One of them is armed with Hellfire missiles. And these are exactly the kind of drones that are capable of knocking out those suspected drug smuggling boats. And the mayor of Aguadilla fully supports even further U.S. military action. Whatever happened here, it's a war. It's a war. It's a war, you know. This is not a game, you know. It really is a war. Maduro has repeatedly appealed for peace, most recently addressing students at a rally. We want to know. We want to know the war. Roughly a quarter of the U.S. Navy's deployed warships are currently in this region, Jerica. President Trump has already confirmed the CIA is operating inside Venezuela. And there are reports he may be weighing up an idea of a covert operation to remove the Venezuelan president.