Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has accused the United States of warmongering after the deployment of the USS Gerald R Ford to the Caribbean. The strikes have targeted vessels the U.S. says are involved in drug smuggling, with casualties reported in multiple operations.
Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro has accused Donald Trump of warmongering after he deployed the U.S. Navy’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R Ford, to the Caribbean.
Maduro told his country’s state media that the U.S. was “inventing a new eternal war” as the Trump administration ramps up an operation to target alleged drug smuggling boats.
It comes as the U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that six “narco-terrorists” had been killed in the latest American strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean Sea. https://www.newsweek.com/maduro-hits-back-trump-inventing-eternal-war-10938435
In recent weeks, US forces have carried out at least eight strikes, killing at least 38 people, against boats in the Caribbean off Venezuela’s coast that Washington said were being used for drug trafficking. The latest strike, announced on Friday by Pete Hegseth, the defence secretary, reportedly killed six people on a boat allegedly being used to smuggle drugs on what was said to be “a known narco-trafficking route”.
Two further strikes in the Pacific this week killed at least five people as tensions also rose between the US and Colombia over the Trump administration’s tactics against alleged traffickers. But the main focus has been Venezuela amid a buildup that has seen nuclear-capable B-52 bombers and elite special operations forces deployed off the South American country’s shores.
The U.S. has positioned multiple naval assets and thousands of personnel near Venezuelan waters. Neighboring countries including Colombia, Brazil, and other Caribbean states are monitoring the operations closely. Russia continues to maintain diplomatic and military ties with Venezuela.
Trump this month signaled a further escalation by authorising the CIA to conduct operations inside the country, fuelling fears that the US was trying to foment a military coup against Maduro – whom it has designated a “narco-terrorist” and for whose arrest it has offered a $50m bounty – or even prepare a ground invasion.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/oct/25/trump-venezuela-strikes-regime-change
Venezuelan officials report economic strain and domestic pressure following the strikes. Analysts note that developments in the region are being closely watched, given the presence of multiple nations’ forces and the strategic importance of the Caribbean corridor.