The Trump administration is preparing to add Venezuela to the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism in what would be a dramatic escalation against the socialist government of Nicolás Maduro, according to U.S. officials and internal government emails. The four countries currently on the list - North Korea, Iran, Sudan and Syria - have been found to “have repeatedly provided support for acts of international terrorism.” 
 
 Rubio and two other Republican senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in September urging him to name Venezuela a state sponsor of terrorism and accusing it of links to Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, but they offered no proof. U.S. officials declined to say whether a final decision had been made about the designation, but in recent days the State Department has asked for feedback on the proposed move from various agencies, including the Department of Health and Human Services, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is part of HHS, and the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on a number of people in Maduro’s inner circle, accusing the first lady, defense minister, vice president and other allies of helping the socialist leader “plunder” the nation’s wealth. Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS 
 
 Adding Venezuela to the list could limit U.S. economic assistance and impose financial restrictions on a country already suffering from hyperinflation, mass migration and shortages of food and medicine. A senior U.S. official told Reuters earlier this month that the Trump administration was “looking at all potential avenues” to pressure Maduro’s government.
– The US list of state sponsors of terror may grow to five. The Trump administration is considering adding Venezuela to the list of countries providing "support for acts of international terrorism," already including Iran, Sudan, Syria, and North Korea, reports the Washington Post. The outlet notes the State Department last week asked various agencies for feedback on the proposed move, reportedly based on Venezuela's alleged ties to Lebanese Hezbollah and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The Department of Health and Human Services, for example, was asked to assess how the terror designation would affect "HHS or CDC programming of funding being carried out by a third party in that country," which is suffering from food and medicine shortages amid hyperinflation. Republicans including Sen. Marco Rubio have called for the change to pressure Nicolas Maduro's regime. But some fear the designation would fuel anti-US messaging from Maduro, who has said Venezuela is the victim of a US-led "economic war." Others, like David Smilde of the Washington Office on Latin America, worry the designation could be used to justify US military intervention in the country—an idea Trump has toyed with. "I suspect this will be based on hearsay and sources of questionable integrity," he adds, noting a designation without concrete evidence of Venezuela's ties to terrorist groups would delegitimize the US list. Citing similar concerns among US officials, Reuters reports no final decision had been made as of Monday. (Hungry Venezuelans are reportedly turning to horse meat.)