Trump removes Venezuela from US list of countries failing drug fight

Antonio María Delgado, Miami Herald on Sep 16, 2026

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President Donald Trump has removed Venezuela from a U.S. list of countries deemed to have failed to meet their international counternarcotics obligations, citing increased cooperation with interim President Delcy Rodríguez’s government following the capture of strongman Nicolás Maduro by U.S. forces.

Venezuela remains classified as a major drug-transit or major illicit drug-producing country, but Trump said Rodríguez’s government has taken sufficient steps against drug trafficking and cartels to shed the more serious “failed demonstrably” designation.

“Given the positive steps taken under interim President Delcy Rodríguez, I have determined Venezuela should no longer be designated as having failed demonstrably to fulfill its drug control commitments,” Trump said in an annual presidential determination submitted to Congress on Tuesday.

The decision is another sign of the increasingly cooperative relationship between Washington and Rodríguez’s interim government following the Jan. 3 U.S. military operation that captured Maduro and brought him to the United States to face federal drug-trafficking charges.

Trump specifically credited growing cooperation with Venezuelan authorities against drug-trafficking organizations and cited the elimination of Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, better known as “Niño Guerrero,” the leader of the Venezuelan criminal organization Tren de Aragua.

“In Venezuela, thanks to my Administration’s arrest and removal of former illegitimate dictator and drug trafficker Nicolás Maduro, we are already seeing the results of growing cooperation with the country’s interim government against cartels, including the elimination of Tren de Aragua leader Niño Guerrero,” Trump said.

Trump said he expects the Rodríguez government to demonstrate continued progress in dismantling groups his administration describes as narcoterrorist organizations and stopping drugs from moving through Venezuela to the United States.

The decision came as part of the president’s annual determination identifying major drug-transit or illicit drug-producing countries. Trump named 23 countries, including Venezuela, Colombia, Mexico, China, Bolivia and Peru.

The administration emphasized that inclusion on the broader list does not necessarily mean a government has failed to cooperate with Washington. Countries can be included because of geographic, commercial and economic factors that make them significant drug-production or transit points even when their governments are taking substantial counternarcotics measures.

Only Afghanistan, Bolivia, Burma and Colombia were designated as having “failed demonstrably” during the previous 12 months to make substantial efforts to meet their international counternarcotics obligations. Trump nevertheless determined that continued U.S. assistance to Bolivia, Burma and Colombia is vital to U.S. national interests.

Venezuela’s removal from that group marks a change in Washington’s assessment following Maduro’s capture and Rodríguez’s rise to the interim presidency.

It also comes as U.N. investigators warn that many of the institutions associated with repression under Maduro remain in place. In a separate report this week, the U.N. Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela said hundreds of political prisoners have been released and some of the harshest forms of repression have declined since Maduro’s capture, but intelligence agencies, security forces and pro-government armed groups known as colectivos retain many of their previous structures and practices.

The document also draws a contrast with neighboring Colombia, which remains in the “failed demonstrably” category despite Trump praising new President Abelardo de la Espriella and predicting closer security cooperation with Bogotá.

Trump said Colombia’s designation reflects the record of the previous government, which was in office during most of the period under review. He said he would consider lifting the designation if Colombia makes progress on coca eradication and dismantling drug-trafficking organizations over the coming year.