With dozens of warships and planes, and thousands of U.S. troops deployed to Puerto Rico, in the Caribbean and the Pacific coast, the Trump administration is beating the war drums threatening military action to topple the Nicolás Maduro government in Venezuela. This increases the danger of provoking a significant escalation.
Using as a smokescreen a so-called war on narco-terrorism, the U.S. government has amassed a formidable military force in the region — 10% of Washington’s naval power, soon to be joined by the biggest warship in the world, the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier. It’s powered by a nuclear reactor, holding over 75 military aircraft, an arsenal of missiles, sophisticated tracking equipment and more than 5,000 sailors on board. It is escorted by a cruiser and four destroyers.
This is the biggest U.S. military force deployed in the region since Washington’s invasion of Panama in 1989. White House officials say they are ready “to use every element of American power” to stop the flow of drugs and “bring those responsible to justice.”
Trampling on Venezuela’s sovereignty, the U.S. government accuses Maduro of being an “illegitimate” leader running a drug cartel “masquerading as a government.” In 2020, the Department of Justice used a grand jury to indict Maduro on charges of drug trafficking. Washington insists he’s “a fugitive from American justice,” and has placed a $50 million bounty for information leading to his arrest. Trump has authorized the CIA to carry out covert operations in Venezuela against drug runners, Maduro and his government.
Helicopters from the U.S. Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment were spotted conducting training flights 90 miles off Venezuela’s northern coast. The MV Ocean Trader — a floating barracks, helicopter base and special ops command center — is also in the area. On Oct. 23 two B-1 Lancers, a supersonic heavy bomber, flew near the coast of Venezuela.
Killings at sea
Meanwhile, the U.S. military has continued bombing vessels at sea. In an expansion of operations, U.S. forces struck two boats Oct. 21 and 22 off the Pacific coast of Colombia. Five people were killed, War Secretary Pete Hegseth said. As of Oct. 28, 57 people have been killed in 13 attacks.
White House officials claim these killings are legal, because they allege the boats belong to “designated terrorist organizations,” threatening U.S. national security.
Two of the people on a boat attacked by U.S. forces Oct. 16 survived the bombardment. To avoid legal challenges in U.S. courts to the constitutionality of their operations and issues surrounding military detention and prosecution of alleged drug traffickers, Washington repatriated the two, one to Ecuador and the other to Colombia.
The government of Colombia announced it would prosecute their national for drug trafficking. Ecuador’s Attorney General’s Office said Oct. 20 it would release the other person because he hadn’t committed any crime in Ecuador.
The attacks on vessels have provoked protests from civil liberties groups and some governments in Latin America. They say Washington has no legal authority to blow up the boats or carry out extrajudicial killings of alleged criminals, as they’re not combatants engaged in military hostilities. Washington has, in fact, turned alleged drug trafficking into a capital offense, they say.
The U.S. rulers’ “maximum pressure” policy against Venezuela is aimed at forcing the fall of Maduro and other top government figures — either by resignation or an arranged handover of power. Or to find some Venezuelan military officers willing to take the $50 million ransom to capture or kill them.
The Venezuelan government has protested Washington’s threats. It has mobilized Venezuelan troops, and called for volunteers to join militias to respond to an invasion.
“There is a threatening stance against Venezuela,” said Cuba’s deputy foreign minister, Carlos Fernández de Cossío, in an interview by Zeteo News. “It is very irresponsible to believe that this can be done without causing a great loss of life.” When asked about the prospects for war, Cossío said Cuba was very concerned. “It is a threat” to “the entire region,” he said.
A major goal of Washington’s moves to replace the Maduro government with one more to its liking is to deal blows to Cuba’s socialist revolution. Since 1959, when working people in Cuba led by Fidel Castro took political power into their own hands, the U.S. rulers have been determined to overthrow it. The example set by workers and farmers in Cuba breaking from imperialist domination, transforming society on behalf of its toiling majority, and helping others fight for their national liberation is an example the U.S. rulers have never accepted.