Donald Trump deploys warships, activates CIA lethal ops to target ‘Venezuelan drug cartels’: Is it just about drugs or another regime change war for vast oil reserves?
The “man of peace,” the mediator who claimed to have facilitated 8 or 9 ceasefire agreements between conflicting nations, including India and Pakistan, and the “self-declared foremost contender for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize,” United States President Donald Trump has veered away from the peaceful course he claimed to espouse globally, in relation to Venezuela.
Trump had vowed that military obligations that had previously dragged the country into exhausting and protracted wars distant from its own borders would cease under a “Make America great again” (Maga) foreign policy. Likewise, it was also central to his popular “America First” agenda.
However, now the White House has adopted a belligerent stance contrary to Trump’s purported “president of peace” persona and violated his promises as a massive militarisation directed against the autocratic regime of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela is taking shape. The military buildup in the Caribbean Sea marked the largest deployment there in decades and served as a testament to how Trump has once more reneged on his crucial commitment to his voters.
Image via World Map
The US Navy has been assembling a force of warships, fighter jets, bombers, military personnel, drones and spy planes in the Caribbean Sea for the past two months. Long-range bomber planes B-52s conducted “bomber attack demonstrations” near the Venezuelan coast. Moreover, Trump has declared, boastfully, that he has permitted the CIA’s (Central Intelligence Agency) operations in Venezuela.
Trump claims “operation against narcotics”
The United States claimed to commence a war on drugs in Venezuela and Trump has given the CIA authorisation to carry out clandestine operations within the nation. “I authorised for two reasons really. Number one, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America. They came in through the border. They came in because we had an open border and the other thing are drugs,” he asserted.
The US has conveyed that it killed dozens of people in attacks on small Venezuelan vessels with “narcotics” and “narco-terrorists,” but did not offer any proof or information about the individuals on board.
At least 10 vessels have been struck by US forces since 2nd September and 8 of which have taken place in the Caribbean, taking the lives of at least 43 people.
The Republican leader announced, “no war, yes peace” while addressing the nation. He then expressed belief that the military had effectively managed the drug operations at sea, however, he is now contemplating land operations, during his White House speech. Active negotiations with Maduro were halted by his administration in recent weeks.
Venezuela does not produce cocaine, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and was not included in the four pages of a March annual report from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that focused on cocaine trafficking.
However, the Trump administration continued to insist that some drug trafficking does pass through Venezuela, citing Maduro’s 2020 indictment on federal charges of conspiracy to import cocaine and narco-terrorism. An official disclosed that “the president hasn’t ruled out diplomacy” and “there are plans on the table that the president is considering” with regard to operations against targets inside the South American nation, reported CNN.
Trump claimed that he could keep attacking suspected drug traffickers overseas without a formal declaration of war being passed by Congress. “I’m not going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war. I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. Okay? We’re going to kill them, you know, they’re going to be like, dead,” he conveyed in his quintessential style.
Pentagon press secretary Sean Parnell also reiterated that the Gerald R Ford strike group and its affiliated air wing’s action was intended to “dismantle Transnational Criminal Organisations and counter narco-terrorism.” The USS Gerald R. Ford has space for up to 90 aircraft and attack helicopters. The biggest aircraft carrier in the world is moving closer to Venezuela.
The entire Trump administration has followed the same narrative, holding Venezuela responsible for the crime and drug problems in the United States.
Maduro retorts “war fabricated by the US”
On the other hand, amid appeals for a diplomatic solution, Maduro has accused the US of manufacturing “a new eternal war” which his country will avoid. He outlined, “They promised they would never again get involved in a war,” and emphasised, “They are fabricating an extravagant narrative, a vulgar, criminal and totally fake one. Venezuela is a country that does not produce cocaine leaves.”
“No to regime change, which reminds us so much of the endless, failed wars in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya, and so on,” he even poked fun at the US later and added, “No to CIA-orchestrated coups.” Maduro has declared that he will be mobilising the police, military, and citizen militia to protect the oil-rich nation.
“We are conducting an exercise that began 72 hours ago, a coastal defence exercise to protect ourselves not only from large-scale military threats but also to protect ourselves from drug trafficking, terrorist threats and covert operations that aim to destabilise the country internally,” highlighted Venezuela’s Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez.
“CIA is present not only in Venezuela but everywhere in the world. They may deploy countless CIA-affiliated units in covert operations from any part of the nation, but any attempt will fail,” he warned.
Foreign Minister Yvan Gil noted that Venezuela “rejects the warmongering and extravagant statements of the president of the United States.” He stressed, “We view with extreme alarm the use of the CIA, as well as the military deployments announced in the Caribbean, which amount to a policy of aggression, threat, and harassment against Venezuela.”
The US assaults on Venezuelan vessels were also slammed as unlawful, violent, and amount to murder. Maduro even initiated legal action to cancel opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez’s passport and revoke his citizenship, accusing him of promoting an invasion.
Lopez who has been living in exile in Spain since 2020, has openly stated that he endorse US actions in the Caribbean. “According to the Constitution, no Venezuelan born in Venezuela can have their nationality revoked,” he responded, dismissing the move and reaffirmed his support for US military operations and their presence in the nation.
A gas deal with Trinidad and Tobago was also suspended by Maduro, who alleged that Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar was converting her nation into a “aircraft carrier of the American empire against Venezuela.”
Tensions escalate between US and Venezuela
Washington had been using a fleet of eight US Navy ships, ten F-35 fighter jets, and a nuclear-powered submarine for its anti-drug operations since August but Caracas repeatedly charged that these actions are part of a larger plot to topple the Venezuelan government.
According to US officials, Maduro is leader of the drug-trafficker “Cartel of the Suns.” Maduro refutes the allegations. The United States even increased its reward for information that leads to his arrest to $50 million to encourage members of his inner circle to turn him in, without any positive outcome.
Reward poster for information leading to the arrest of Nicolás Maduro. (Source: english.elpais.com)
Nonetheless, Trump’s “bellicose” rhetoric was rejected by Venezuela which also charged that he was attempting “to legitimise regime change with the ultimate goal of appropriating Venezuela’s petroleum resources.” The actions were described as “a grave violation of the UN charter” and the country even took the matter to the United Nations (UN) Security Council.
The Venezuelan leader’s refusal to comply with demands to relinquish power freely and persistent counters of the officials that they were not involved in drug trafficking previously led to frustration on the American side, resulting in the snapping of diplomatic relations between the two parties.
Marco Rubio’s role amid the United States, Venezuela hostilities
Maduro and other top officials made a number of concessions to try to defuse the impasse with Washington, including ceding a significant stake in Venezuela’s oil sector. Even some sanctions on Venezuelan oil had been lifted by the Trump administration, allowing Chevron, a major American multinational energy company, to restart production and boost Venezuelan shipments.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s push for a firm stance, however, instead caused long-standing tensions to exacerbate. “Trump had, in many conversations, meetings with different people emphasized that he really only cared about oil but Rubio was able to drum up this narco-terrorist rhetoric and get Trump to pivot completely,” mentioned a US businessman, according to a report in The Guardian.
Rubio was reportedly able to convince Trump with the help of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller and chief of staff Susie Wiles. He accomplished this by also taking advantage of the administration’s categorisation of the transnational gang “Tren de Aragua” which originated in Venezuela, as a “foreign terrorist organisation” that had infiltrated the United States and reportedly contributed to the surge of undocumented migrants escaping Maduro’s rule.
The group was also implicated in collusion with the “Cartel de los Soles,” a secretive organisation of Venezuelan military leaders that the US believes is headed by Maduro and is in charge of smuggling drugs into the United States, according to a White House declaration last March.
War against drug cartels or a regime change operation in a oil rich nation?
The goal of the Trump administration’s Venezuela policy which was formulated by Rubio and CIA director John Ratcliffe seemed to set on removing Maduro from office. He has held power since 2013, including when he was re-elected in polls tainted by fraud allegations.
Rubio has already voiced his desire to throw him out of his position. He already termed Maduro a “horrible dictator” on Fox News and responded, “We’re going to work on that policy,” when asked if he was calling for his ouster.
More importantly, Washington has long been interested in taking down Maduro. Trump spearheaded “maximum pressure” campaign during his first term in office to unseat his government.
Furthermore, CIA has historically collaborated with Latin American governments on intelligence sharing and security issues. This has made it possible for the agency to pursue drug cartels through working together with Mexican officials. Over the course of its lengthy history in Latin America, it has conducted a wide range of activities, from direct paramilitary participation to intelligence collection and support functions that need little to no physical presence.
However, CIA has no authority to conduct direct lethal actions under those authorisations. Hence, the recent permission stoked concerns that the US was attempting to spark a military takeover against Maduro.
“A build-up this size can only suggest there’s a strategic military goal,” pointed out Dr Carlos Solar while talking to Sky News. He is an expert on Latin American security at the RUSI defence thinktank. He observed that the scale of military strategy in the Venezuelan region is “unproportionate” to the challenge of combating drug trafficking.
According to Solar, the CIA’s intervention is also “not surprising” because the US regularly employs its surveillance capabilities in nations that are considered antagonistic. “With the chances of a military conflict looming, having the most intelligence capable on the ground would be reasonable,” he outlined.
Senator Rand Paul (Republican-Kentucky) also voiced similar reservations on Fox News Sunday and outlined, “So far, they have alleged that these people are drug dealers. No one’s said their name, no one’s said what evidence, no one’s said whether they’re armed, and we’ve had no evidence presented.”
Many strikes have occurred on ships that travel a route that transports cocaine and marijuana to West Africa and Europe. However, Paul stated that rather than the military, drug smuggling and associated crimes have “usually been something we do through law enforcement” and referred to fatalities as “extrajudicial killings.”
The campaign now appeared to be expanded by the administration. On 28th October, US Marines targeted vessels off the Pacific coast of South America after launching several assaults off the Caribbean coast. “They’ll be coming in by land a little bit more because they’re not coming in by boat anymore and we will hit them very hard when they come in by land. They haven’t experienced that yet. But now we’re totally prepared to do that,” Trump declared.
Does US seek control of Venezuelan oil in the name of attacking drug cartels
The Trump administration is reiterating the Monroe doctrine, which was developed in the 19th century and saw the US assert Latin America as its exclusive sphere of influence, according to Angelo Rivero Santos. He is a professor of Latin American studies at Georgetown University and a former diplomat in Venezuela’s embassy in Washington.
“It’s not only Venezuela. When you look at their statements on the Panama canal, at the impositions of tariffs on Brazil, the latest spat with the Colombian government, not to mention the military presence in the Caribbean, you see a return of the Monroe Doctrine,” Santos was quoted by the Guardian article.
He further contended that one goal was to appoint more Trump-friendly administrations in the area, akin to those of Daniel Noboa of Ecuador, Javier Milei of Argentina and Nayib Bukele of El Salvador.
Notably, Trump was heard lamenting the failure of the US to take control of Venezuela. “How about we are buying oil from Venezuela? When I left it was ready to collapse. We would have taken it over. We would have gotten all that oil. It would have been right next door,” Trump stated before his 2024 re-election. The world’s largest oil reserves are found in Venezuela.
Trump’s dispute with Venezuela regarding drugs also appeared to be based on rather tenuous grounds. Cocaine is mostly produced in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. According to its own government, Venezuela is taking tough measures to combat the trafficking of cocaine. According to a 2025 report by the US Drug Enforcement Administration, Colombia accounts for 84% of all cocaine seizures in the US.
Other nations were listed in the report, however Venezuela was left out. Cocaine generated in South America does pass via Venezuela but the majority of it is sent to Europe with barely any travelling to the United States. Mexico and the Pacific Ocean provide the majority of the cocaine supplied in the country.
Similarly, nearly all fentanyl that enters the United States originates in Mexico. 94% of the narcotic that is captured in the country is stopped at the southern border, per US Customs and Border Protection.
While the Pacific Ocean is the site of the current action, the Caribbean where the first seven strikes were conducted is not a key sea route for drug trafficking.
Likewise, people in Latin America view the CIA with great distrust due to its past undercover operations, efforts to overthrow governments and backing for previous right-wing military dictatorships. According to Ned Price, the deputy to the US ambassador to the UN and a former senior analyst at the CIA and senior counsel at the State Department, the agency’s covert operations can take “many forms.”
Massive military fortification by the United States
The US military deployment has been changing and as of 23rd October, there were ten US military warships in the area, including oil tankers for refuelling ships at sea, guided missile destroyers and amphibious assault ships, according to BBC. There were at least 10,000 troops in the area, excluding personnel stationed at facilities in Puerto Rico alongside a Marine contingent on amphibious assault ships.
Image via BBC
Reuters reported that more aircrafts have been seen at US facilities in Puerto Rico, including F-35 fighter jets and MQ-9 reaper drones which have been utilized to conduct surveillance and attacks in Afghanistan, Syria, Libya and Mali.
A task force had been sent out by the Navy and Marine Corps off the coast of Venezuela. More than 4,500 sailors and Marines work there as a forward presence for Naval operations. The group consists of reconnaissance planes, an attack submarine, a Special Operations ship and guided missile destroyers.
The MV Ocean Trader, a civilian vessel transformed into a floating base for Special Operations, has also been deployed by the Pentagon. Special Operations forces in the region can use the ship as a command centre and barracks. The 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment is also stationed there. It is a top-tier helicopter unit that supports the most hazardous missions in the globe.
This month, it was discovered that the “Little Bird” helicopters that this unit usually uses were operating fewer than 90 miles off the Venezuelan coast, based on The Washington Post. The helicopters were participating in training exercises that could be used to prepare for an extended confrontation, including potential operations inside Venezuela, a US official unveiled to The Post. A carrier strike group had already been ordered to the area comprising of USS Gerald R Ford by the Pentagon.
USS Gerald R Ford (Source: CNN)
Additionally, plane tracking platforms have shown flights of P-8 Poseidon espionage planes and B1 bombers. The United States has committed 8% of its entire naval fleet to the Caribbean deployment. As Dr Solar earlier implied, the magnitude of this deployment reflects a far more substantial motive than merely attacking drug cartels.
Conclusion
The US is notorious for launching wars to establish “democracies” in nations that are abundant in natural resources and energy. The CIA is also recognised for its regime change operations around the globe, including in Ukraine and allegedly even in Bangladesh. They have attacked nations on totally fake grounds before (Iraq), and have a history of destroying entire countries and levelling civilian facilities to ground just to topple an unfavourable leader (Libya). Though a war on Venezuela would appear as an extreme measure in current global situations, it won’t be unprecedented. The USA has done such wars plenty of times.
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