America warships are approaching Venezuelan waters within the southern Caribbean as a part of President Donald Trump’s effort to struggle drug trafficking, experiences stated.
The Trump administration has accused Venezuela’s left-wing President Nicolas Maduro of being concerned in cocaine trafficking and dealing with drug cartels. On August 7, the US Departments of State and Justice doubled the reward for info resulting in the arrest of Maduro to $50m after accusing him of being “one of many largest narco-traffickers on this planet”.
In response, Maduro has urged tens of millions of Venezuelans to affix militias, saying, “No empire will contact the sacred soil of Venezuela.”
On Monday, the Venezuelan authorities introduced that it’s sending 15,000 troops to its border with Colombia to struggle drug trafficking, amid rising strain from the Trump administration.
So why are the US warships heading to Venezuelan waters, and the way is it being seen in Latin American nations, together with Venezuela?
Why is the Trump administration sending navy warships to Venezuelan waters?
A number of information experiences say that the Trump administration has dispatched navy warships to the southern Caribbean, saying that these missions are supposed to counter threats to US nationwide safety posed by organisations within the area that the US has designated as “narco-terrorist organizations.”
The New York Instances reported final month that Trump signed a secret directive ordering the Pentagon to make use of navy power in opposition to sure Latin American drug cartels that the US has deemed overseas “terrorist” organisations.
On Monday, the Reuters information company reported that the US ordered extra ships to the southern Caribbean, citing two sources aware of the deployment.
The sources instructed Reuters, on the situation of anonymity, that the USS Lake Erie, a guided missile cruiser and the USS Newport Information, a nuclear-powered quick assault submarine, will arrive within the area by early subsequent week.
Final week, a number of information companies reported that three US Aegis-class guided missile destroyers have been headed to Venezuelan waters.
In accordance with two people briefed on the deployment – who anonymously spoke to Reuters – the USS San Antonio, USS Iwo Jima and USS Fort Lauderdale have been headed in the direction of the Venezuelan coast, carrying 4,500 US service members, together with 2,200 Marines.
In each the experiences, Reuters stated that the unnamed sources shunned disclosing the precise aims of the deployments however indicated that current navy actions have been supposed to deal with threats to US nationwide safety posed by designated “narco-terrorist organizations.”
On August 14, the US Fleet Forces Command printed a information launch saying that sailors and Marines assigned to the Iwo Jima Amphibious Prepared Group had departed from Norfolk, Virginia and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The information launch doesn’t explicitly state particulars of the mission or specify the place the group is being deployed.
The discharge says, “Greater than 4,500 Sailors and Marines from the twenty second MEU comprise the power aboard the ARG’s three amphibious ships: flagship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7), and the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ships USS San Antonio (LPD 17) and USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD 28).”
Reporters requested White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt about the potential for US boots on the bottom in Venezuela on August 19. In response, she stated, “President [Donald] Trump has been very clear and constant. He’s ready to make use of each aspect of American energy to cease medicine from flooding into our nation and to carry these accountable to justice.”
Leavitt reiterated that the US doesn’t recognise Maduro’s administration because the authentic authorities of Venezuela. Maduro received final yr’s disputed election. The US and Venezuela haven’t had a proper diplomatic relationship since 2019.
How is Trump cracking down on drug trafficking?
On his inauguration day on January 21, Trump signed an govt order designating worldwide drug cartels as overseas “terrorist” organisations.
“In sure parts of Mexico, they operate as quasi-governmental entities,” the order says. Mexico opposed the order as a result of it created the specter of US navy motion in opposition to the nation.
In response, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum stated that her authorities will cooperate with the US to struggle drug trafficking, however opposed US intervention on Mexico’s territory. “What we insist on is the defence of our sovereignty and our independence,” she stated again in January.
Trump additionally accused Canada and Mexico of failing to stop fentanyl, a extremely addictive artificial opioid, from coming into the US – though he has not furnished proof for his claims.
After Trump threatened tariffs on Mexican imports, Sheinbaum deployed 10,000 Nationwide Guard troops to the US-Mexico border to assist regulate immigration.
On February 20, the US State Division designated eight worldwide cartels as overseas terrorist organisations, together with Mexico-based Cartel del Golfo, Sinaloa Cartel, Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, Carteles Unidos, La Nueva Familia Michoacana and Cartel del Noreste, California-based Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), and Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua.
Later in February, Mexico handed over 29 drug cartel leaders to the US.
What has the US accused Maduro of?
US officers accused each Maduro and Venezuelan Minister of Widespread Energy for Inside Diosdado Cabello of collaborating with the Cartel de los Soles (“Cartel of the Suns”), a drug trafficking organisation that Washington has designated as a “terrorist” group. Cabello, like Maduro, is a part of the ruling United Socialist Occasion of Venezuela (PSUV).
Maduro has rejected the Trump administration’s accusations earlier. The US authorities has not supplied any proof linking Maduro to drug cartels.
The US introduced earlier this month that it had doubled the reward for Maduro’s seize on drug prices to $50m. In a video on August 7, US Lawyer Common Pam Bondi additionally accused Maduro of collaborating with the Venezuelan crime syndicate Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico. “He is likely one of the largest narco-traffickers on this planet,” Bondi stated about Maduro.
Right now, @TheJusticeDept and @StateDept are saying a $50 MILLION REWARD for info resulting in the arrest of Nicolás Maduro. pic.twitter.com/D8LNqjS9yk
— Lawyer Common Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) August 7, 2025
Earlier this yr, the US additionally raised the reward for the arrest or prosecution of Cabello from $10m to $25m.
Throughout Trump’s first time period in 2020, Maduro and his shut allies have been indicted in Manhattan federal courtroom on federal prices of “narco-terrorism” and conspiracy to import cocaine. Again then, Washington provided a $15mm reward for his arrest. The administration of US President Joe Biden elevated this bounty to $25m.
How has the Venezuelan authorities responded?
On Monday, Cabello introduced that Caracas will ship 15,000 troops to strengthen safety within the border states of Zulia and Tachira, which border Colombia.
“Right here, we do struggle drug trafficking; right here, we do struggle drug cartels on all fronts,” the minister stated, whereas additionally saying the seizure of 53 tonnes of medicine up to now this yr.
Cabello acknowledged that the improved safety measures alongside the border with Colombia, aimed toward “combating felony teams,” may also embrace the deployment of plane, drones and riverine safety, in response to native media outlet Noticias Venevision. Cabello urged Colombian authorities to take related steps to “guarantee peace alongside your entire axis.”
Referring to the deployment of US warships on Venezuelan waters, Maduro stated, “From the north, the empire has gone mad and, like a rotten rehash, has renewed its threats to the peace and stability of Venezuela,” Caracas-based information community, Globovision reported.
“We’re not fakes nor drug traffickers, and we are going to defend the dignity of beloved Venezuela,” Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez instructed a crowd of navy recruits over the weekend.
How have Venezuelan opposition leaders responded?
Opposition determine Marina Corina Machado referred to as Maduro the “head of the Cartel of the Solar,” in an X publish on Monday. Machado was disqualified weeks earlier than final yr’s election.
However opposition chief Henrique Capriles warned in opposition to an act of power in opposition to Venezuela. “We firmly categorical our rejection of any act of power in opposition to Venezuela, no matter its origin. The sovereignty of our nation is sacred and should be unconditionally revered. The United Nations Constitution and Worldwide Regulation clearly set up that no State can assault one other, as it will end result within the lack of human lives,” he posted on X.
Capriles, who misplaced to Maduro within the 2013 presidential election, added that regional peace should be defended.
“The federal government, at the moment in energy, has the obligation to open the doorways and create the mechanisms crucial to stop our disaster from worsening additional.”
Juan Guaido, the West-backed interim president between 2019 and 2022, supported the actions taken by america in opposition to Venezuelan cartels. “The Cartel of the Suns and the Tren de Aragua have already been designated as terrorist organizations. Their chief just isn’t hidden within the shadows: his title is Nicolas Maduro, a dictator liable for this felony community that drains Venezuela and threatens your entire area,” he posted a press release on X on Monday.
What produce other Latin American leaders stated?
Mexico’s Sheinbaum stated earlier this month that her authorities doesn’t have any proof linking Maduro to the Sinaloa Cartel, which relies in her nation and is called after the Mexican state of Sinaloa.
Alternatively, the workplace of the president of Paraguay, Santiago Pena Palacios, posted a press release on X on Friday declaring the “Cartel of the Suns” a overseas terrorist organisation.
