Venezuela launches massive military exercise as US Navy flotilla approaches Caribbean waters

Venezuela announced on Tuesday that it was launching a massive military exercise across the country, reportedly involving some 200,000 forces, in response to the growing presence of US military assets in the region. The Venezuelan military’s announcement came as the US Department of Defense confirmed that the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford had entered the Southern Command area of ​​responsibility, which includes the Caribbean.

Venezuela’s Defense Ministry said the exercise that began Tuesday involved the deployment of land, air and maritime assets.

Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said on Venezuelan state television that 200,000 soldiers participated in the exercise, according to the French news agency News.

“They are murdering defenseless people, whether they are drug traffickers or not, executing them without due process,” Padrino said, referring to US military attacks against suspected drug trafficking vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific that began in September.

Since then, US forces have attacked about 20 ships in international waters, killing at least 76 people. The Trump administration says the operations… whose details remain unclear – are part of an anti-drug offensive.

The USS Ford is the world’s largest aircraft carrier and the US Navy’s most advanced. It left the US military’s Mediterranean Command region on Tuesday and entered the Southern Command region, which includes the waters around Latin America.

The aircraft aboard the Ford include four squadrons of F/A-18 Super Hornets, an F-18 variant electronic squadron, airborne warning and control systems, two squadrons of maritime combat helicopters and a logistics support squadron.

The United States has also deployed F-35 stealth fighter jets to Puerto Rico, as well as six other US Navy ships in the Caribbean.

Many people, both inside Venezuela and observers outside the country, believe that the increase in US military pressure on Caracas is aimed at forcing President Nicolás Maduro from office, including Maduro himself.

President Trump has not stated that this is his intention, although he has said that he believes Maduro’s days in office are numbered. Trump has repeatedly accused Maduro of being complicit in armed criminal gangs that traffic drugs into the United States, accusations the Venezuelan leader has rejected.

A former top diplomat in Venezuela, Ambassador James Story, who served during President Trump’s first term and during President Joe Biden’s administration, told 60 Minutes last month that the United States could overthrow Maduro by force.

If there is a U.S. military attack on Venezuela, Defense Minister Padrino said in his televised remarks Tuesday that foreign troops would find a “united community to defend this nation, to the death.”

Some of Venezuela’s neighbors have also expressed serious concerns about US attacks on small boats.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Tuesday ordered his country to stop sharing intelligence with the United States. He said the directive “will remain in effect as long as missile attacks against ships in the Caribbean continue.”

“The fight against drugs must be subordinated to the human rights of the Caribbean people,” said Petro, who said News themezone in an exclusive interview in October that attacks on ships were illegal and ineffective.

News themezone Deputy Foreign Editor José Díaz Jr. contributed to this report..