Donald Trump is considering military action in Venezuela, now that “the sea is under control”. Maduro declared that he reinforced the army with eight million reservists, although experts doubt this number
As President Donald Trump mulls military action in Venezuela, bolstering forces in the Caribbean and sending B-52 bombers to the country’s coast this week, Nicolás Maduro has responded in kind, redeploying troops, mobilizing “millions” of troops and denouncing U.S. activity in the region — a sign of strongman defiance while the two leaders are deadlocked.
Trump administration officials have privately acknowledged that the intensified U.S. pressure campaign is aimed at ousting Maduro, a goal that was also targeted during Trump’s first term, when the White House recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the country’s legitimate president in 2019. But as Trump’s team ramps up the pressure this fall, Maduro in turn is stepping up the rhetoric and propaganda for Venezuelans, while promoting new military exercises by the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, which have around 123 thousand members.
In recent weeks, the US military has sent warships and other weapons to the region and attacked vessels off the Venezuelan coast that, according to US authorities, were transporting drugs. On Wednesday, Trump admitted that he authorized the CIA to carry out secret actions in Venezuela and said that the United States was considering attacks on Venezuelan territory.
“We are certainly considering the territory now, because we have the sea under control”, declared Donald Trump, speaking to journalists on Wednesday.
Maduro declared that he reinforced the army with eight million reservists, although experts doubt this number, as well as the quality of the troops’ training. On Friday, October 17, 20 of the 23 Venezuelan states were militarized as part of Maduro’s military mobilizations, called Independence 200.
Last month, Donald Trump published, on his Truth Social social network account, a video showing women, some of whom appeared to be overweight, running with weapons during supposed training for the Venezuelan army.
The Trump administration has been quietly laying the groundwork for possible military action inside Venezuela for months, linking Maduro to drug traffickers and cartels that authorities have designated as terrorist groups that pose an imminent threat to the United States. But, so far, there is no indication that Trump has decided to take this step or directly attack the Venezuelan leader.
Instead, according to sources who spoke to CNN, the goal has been to pressure Maduro into resigning on his own, thereby establishing a credible threat of US military action if he does not resign. The recent attacks on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean are a clear message to Maduro, the same sources added, noting that the government has been very intentional in linking the Venezuelan leader to drug groups and cartels.
Trump said, on Wednesday, that he authorized the CIA to operate inside Venezuela to contain the flow of immigrants and drugs from the South American country, but stopped short of saying that he was trying to remove Maduro. It is the first time that Trump has spoken openly about his decision to expand the CIA’s authority to carry out lethal attacks and covert actions in the region, as was the case.
In a speech broadcast on Wednesday, Maduro denounced what he described as the CIA’s record of regime changes and coups across the world.
“But our people are united and aware. They have the means to defeat once again this open conspiracy against the peace and stability of Venezuela”, he declared on state television.
In Venezuela, no one sleeps
In Venezuela, daily life continues despite the imminent possibility of an armed conflict with the United States. Near the center of Caracas, at the Teatro Teresa Carreño, a sold-out musical debuted just days after a famous salsa party brought together more than a thousand people in the west of the city.
But Venezuelans are increasingly discussing US warships in the Caribbean Sea and fears of a possible US attack. “Venezuelans are anxious just thinking about what could happen,” declared Ivonne Caña.
A cook by profession, Ivonne admits that she is living these days with uncertainty and concern for her family. The worst is at night, he says. “We didn’t sleep well.”
Some Venezuelans are cautiously showing their support for US pressure on Maduro. In recent days, banners with messages such as “It’s happening… freedom at 95%” have appeared on at least 10 university campuses across the country — a form of peaceful protest in spaces where political issues are rarely addressed due to fear of government reprisals.
Meanwhile, Maduro has further strengthened the repression of civil liberties in Venezuela. In late September, the government announced that the president had signed an “external commotion” decree, which he described as “a constitutional defense tool in the event the country faces military aggression.”
The state of emergency decree would allow Maduro to restrict constitutional guarantees and, according to analysts, would grant him broad political, social and economic powers.
Since Maduro accused the US government of trying to steal Venezuela’s oil wealth, US military personnel stationed nearby never approached. Three U.S. Air Force B-52 bombers flew off the coast of Venezuela for more than four hours on Wednesday, according to open-source flight data analyzed by CNN. The bombers departed Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, before dawn.
Two of the bombers kept their localizers activated within Venezuela’s flight information region (FIR), arriving at a point 53 miles from La Orchila Island, where Maduro’s forces carried out exercises last month.
At their closest point, the planes flew 132 miles from the Venezuelan mainland, at around 11:20 am (local time). The bombers remained in a part of Venezuela’s flight information region that is international airspace but controlled by the country’s aviation authority. Venezuela’s FIR extends far beyond the country’s airspace.
Several sources told CNN that the recent US military raids on drug boats are just the beginning of a larger effort to rid the region of narcotics trafficking and, potentially, remove Maduro from power. To date, the military has carried out at least six attacks on six different boats in the Caribbean.
The Trump Administration’s War on Drugs
The argument that drug traffickers pose an imminent threat to Americans is at the heart of the Trump administration’s classified legal justification for carrying out military strikes against suspected drug boats in the Caribbean — and potentially beyond those targets.
The Justice Department’s opinion also includes a secret and comprehensive list of groups that the Trump administration says can now be treated as enemy combatants rather than criminals and therefore summarily killed without due process at the president’s direction.
The ruling is significant, legal experts say, as it appears to justify open warfare against a secret list of groups and potentially provides a pretext for unilateral U.S. military action against a number of targets in the region.
At the Pentagon, some military lawyers, including international law experts from the Defense Department’s Office of General Counsel, have raised concerns about the legality of lethal attacks on suspected drug traffickers.
But several Pentagon lawyers previously admitted to CNN that internal dissent is unlikely to dissuade the Trump administration from continuing its military campaign in the region.
The latest indication of domestic concerns about these attacks came on Thursday, when the admiral in charge of US Southern Command, which has responsibility for forces in the Caribbean, resigned after just a year in the role.
Tensions between Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Admiral Alvin Holsey have been growing in recent weeks, long before the admiral announced his resignation, two sources familiar with the matter told CNN.
According to the same sources, Pete Hegseth did not believe that Alvin Holsey was acting quickly or aggressively enough to combat drug traffickers in the Caribbean and complained of not receiving the necessary information about the operations. But US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) was concerned about the legality of the operations.
On Friday, the US military detained . This is the first time that an American attack did not result in the immediate death of everyone on board, and, according to CNN International, the two survivors are currently detained on a US Navy ship, raising a series of new legal questions in an already obscure situation.
