Despite Donald Trump’s statements of his desire for peace, his decisions on Venezuela demonstrate the opposite.
Earlier, US President Donald Trump decided to deploy a flotilla of amphibious assault vessels and a submarine to the shores of Venezuela as part of a special operation against international drug cartels. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also said that administration is ready to take any and all military measures against Venezuela.
Since Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has been previously accused of heading a drug Cartel de los Soles (the Cartel of the Suns) and of not being legitimately elected president, there is every reason to believe that this gesture of muscle flexing could escalate into a serious provocation with unpredictable consequences for the region.
The armada of the American Navy consists of three Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers, a submarine and three amphibious assault ships carrying about 4,500 Marines. If we were talking about drug cartels that use small vessels or artisanal submarines to transport their goods, often used only once, such a powerful flotilla would not be required to intercept them, and it would be more logical to use reconnaissance aircraft in conjunction with coast guard boats cruising in the places of the alleged route of smugglers. Although the US Navy’s Boeing P-8-A Poseidons long-range detection aircraft are also said to be participating in this operation.
The demonization of the Venezuelan leadership did not happen in one moment. Earlier, former U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr said that “for more than 20 years, Maduro and a number of high-ranking colleagues allegedly conspired with the FARC(leftist Colombian rebel group),, causing tons of cocaine to enter and devastate American communities.”
In February 2025, Donald Trump has added the Tren de Aragua group, whose members operate in the United States, to the lists of terrorist organizations. Similar measures have been taken against Salvadoran MS-13 and six other Mexican groups. It should be emphasized that there is no evidence as to whether there are any drug cartels inside Venezuela or a connection between the government of this country and gangs in the United States. This is pure disinformation, and the same methods have previously been used against Russia in a similar way.
In fact, all the accusations against the Venezuelan leadership were spined out of thin air and were based on a false report compiled by Joseph Humire, director of the conservative think tank Center for a Secure Free Society, associated with the American far right.
This report was published by the Heritage Foundation on December 5, 2024 and presented as a strategic document for “hemispheric security.”
According to the UK’s The Guardian, Humire used non-existent data and manipulated attacks against the Venezuelan leadership in various US media, as well as lied at Congressional hearings.
It is also said that Humire’s statements about the links between the Maduro government and organized criminal groups have raised doubts in the US intelligence community.
Nevertheless, Humire’s fake news worked – a $50 million reward was set for President Nicolas Maduro (apparently to tempt the Venezuelan military to commit a coup d’etat), new prisoners were sent to the Guantanamo base, in January 2025, the Laken Riley anti-immigration Act was passed into Law in the United States, and Venezuela was referred to as “State sponsor of terrorism” (if added to the official list, new sanctions and other restrictive measures will be imposed). The last pretext became the fight against drug cartels (where at least one – “de los Soles” is fictional), which pose a threat to the United States, for which Donald Trump allowed the use of armed forces.
It should be noted that at the same time, the United States continues to negotiate oil production with Caracas, but this is not particularly publicized. It is pretty likely that the demonization of the Venezuelan leadership also aims to achieve more significant positions in this negotiation process.
However, Caracas responded to these US provocations with a decisive demarche. The Minister of People’s Power for Defense of Venezuela, Vladimir Padrino Lopez, said that “the motherland is not being discussed, the motherland is being defended.” Nicolas Maduro announced the mobilization of the Bolivarian militia, whose members were called to appear at the assembly points on August 23 and 24. Support for the Venezuelan Government was expressed by various political parties, trade unions and non-governmental organizations, including from Russia. In particular, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov discussed this issue with Venezuelan Executive Vice President Delcy Rodriguez and said that Moscow would provide support in protecting the country’s sovereignty.
An extraordinary ALBA-TCP summit was held, at which the US actions against Venezuela were condemned. The joint statement said that ” we categorically reject the orders of the United States government to deploy military forces under false pretexts, with the clear intention of imposing illegal and interfering policies contrary to the constitutional order of the States of Latin America and the Caribbean. The U.S. military deployment in Caribbean waters, disguised as anti-drug operations, represents a threat to the peace and stability of the region…”
Washington was also rdemanded “the immediate cessation of any military threat or action violating the territorial integrity and political independence of the States of Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as unrestricted respect for the international legal framework and multilateral mechanisms for the peaceful settlement of disputes.”
In addition to Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia, criticism of Washington was voiced by the leaders of Mexico, Colombia and Brazil, as well as the small island states of the Caribbean – Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, San Vicente and Granadines, San Cristobal and Nieves, Grenada and Santa Lucia.
If we talk about how the future scenario may develop, most likely, Washington will try to use the territorial conflict between Venezuela and Guyana and enter the territorial waters that Venezuela considers its own, but Guyana does not recognize this (by the way, there are large oil deposits there). The President of Guyana, Mohamed Irfaan Ali, is already flirting with the United States, saying that he stands for regional security and stability, supporting Donald Trump’s decision to “fight drug cartels.”
It is also obvious that in the broader geopolitical context of the region, the United States wants to flex its muscles in front of Colombia and Brazil, whose leadership is currently not following Washington’s lead, but given the growing influence in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Peru, Ecuador, Panama and Bolivia (after the last general elections, where the Movement for Socialism (Movimiento al Socialismo, MAS) lost to the pro-American candidates and parties), we are talking about systematic plans to control the whole of Latin America. In addition, the practical implementation of Trump’s decree means strengthening the operational intelligence and military activities of the United States in the region. And, since this declared activity against drug cartels means extraterritoriality and is conducted without the consent of other sovereign states, this will inevitably lead to increased tension.
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