The United States launched drone strikes over the weekend against National Liberation Army operations in rural Venezuela, coordinating with Venezuelan forces that then secured the site. Local reports said as many as 20 cartel members died, and social media videos showed the bodies afterward. The ELN, a Colombian-origin guerrilla designated a terrorist group by the United States, the European Union and others, funds itself through drug trafficking while presenting as a leftist movement and has carried out major attacks in Colombia.

Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela's former leader, remains in a U.S. jail facing drug charges. The strikes form part of Shield of the Americas, a U.S. effort that has drawn more than a dozen Latin American nations, including Venezuela as the newest participant, and has involved similar drone and joint troop actions in places such as Colombia.