Venezuela Mobilizes Forces as U.S. Military Escalation Raises Fears of War
Caracas warns of “covert operations” as Trump authorizes CIA action and deploys major naval power in the Caribbean
ERBIL (Kurdistan24) — Venezuela has launched large-scale coastal defense exercises as tensions with the United States surge following President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy an aircraft carrier strike group and authorize CIA operations against what Washington calls “drug cartels” in the region.
Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said Saturday that the exercises, which began 72 hours earlier, were aimed at defending the country against “covert operations” and other destabilizing threats.
“We are conducting a coastal defense exercise to protect ourselves not only from large-scale military threats but also from drug trafficking, terrorist threats, and covert operations that aim to destabilize the country internally,” he said on national television.
The drills come amid an expanding U.S. military campaign that has seen over 10 alleged drug-smuggling vessels bombed since early September, killing at least 43 people.
Venezuela’s government calls the U.S. actions a pretext for regime change, while Washington insists they are part of a broader “war on narcoterrorism.”
Tensions escalated further when President Trump publicly confirmed he had authorized CIA operations inside Venezuela and said he was considering ground strikes against “drug cartels” in the Caribbean country.
The Pentagon’s latest deployment — including the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, eight warships, F-35 fighter jets, and a nuclear-powered submarine — marks one of the largest American military buildups in the region in decades.
President Nicolás Maduro on Thursday appealed directly to Washington to “avoid a crazy war,” urging peace as Venezuela mobilized its armed forces along the coast.
“Yes, peace, yes peace forever, peace forever. No crazy war, please!” Maduro said in English during a televised speech.
Venezuelan state media broadcast footage of soldiers in nine coastal states and members of the civilian militia armed with Russian-made Igla-S shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles.
“CIA is present not only in Venezuela but everywhere in the world,” Padrino said Friday, vowing that “any attempt will fail.”
The U.S. administration insists the campaign is targeting drug traffickers, with Trump describing the cartels as “the ISIS of the Western Hemisphere.” However, critics — including some of Trump’s own conservative allies — warn the growing military footprint could spiral into a new “forever war.”
Observers note that the scale of the U.S. buildup, coupled with Trump’s increasingly bellicose rhetoric, suggests Washington’s goals may extend beyond drug interdiction to the potential overthrow of Maduro’s government.
Regional tensions are rising as well. Trinidad and Tobago confirmed the arrival of a U.S. warship for joint military drills, just days after two of its citizens were reportedly killed in U.S. strikes at sea — a stark reminder of how the campaign’s effects are spilling across borders.
As both sides harden their positions, the Caribbean finds itself at the center of a rapidly intensifying standoff that could redefine U.S.-Latin American relations and test the limits of Washington’s expanding military strategy in the Western Hemisphere.
