Скачать или смотреть Rubio identifies single most serious threat to the US from Western Hemisphere

At his year-end press conference, Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke about the threats that transnational terrorist criminal groups pose to the U.S.
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 on 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 that 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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Secretary of State Marco Rubio gestures as he speaks during an end-of-year press conference in the State Department Press Briefing Room in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 19, 2025. (Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images)
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.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro greets his supporters during a rally in Caracas on Dec. 1, 2025. (Pedro Mattey/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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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.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on Dec. 2, 2025, in Washington, D.C. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
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While the drug boat strikes have sparked backlash, the administration has largely defended their 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 wit...