US President Donald Trump is increasing military pressure on Venezuela. Speaking to reporters at the White House, Trump threatened to shoot down a Venezuelan military plane that was seen near a US ship. If the planes threatened the ship, "they would be shot down," Trump said.
On Thursday evening, the Pentagon announced on Platform X that two Venezuelan military aircraft had flown near a U.S. Navy ship in international waters. “This highly provocative action was intended to disrupt our counter-narco-terrorism operations,” the post said. The Defense Department warned Venezuela against further attempts to interfere with U.S. military counternarcotics operations.
As CNN reported, citing several inside sources, Trump is also considering military strikes against drug cartels in Venezuela. This is part of a broader strategy to weaken ruler Nicolás Maduro and, according to several sources familiar with the administration's plans, also includes possible operations inside the country. Such a move would represent a dramatic escalation of tensions between the US and the South American country.
The conflict between Venezuela and the United States has escalated significantly recently. On Tuesday, according to Trump, US forces fired on a ship suspected of being loaded with drugs coming from Venezuela, killing eleven crew members. According to the president, the attack was directed against the Venezuelan drug gang Tren de Aragua, which the US government designates as a foreign terrorist organization.
Venezuela's most powerful gang is involved in drug trafficking, extortion, illegal mining and migrant smuggling. It has recently expanded its sphere of influence to other Latin American countries and the United States. President Maduro's government condemned the action as "extrajudicial executions." However, the US judiciary accuses the authoritarian leader of involvement in international drug trafficking and of transforming the country into a narco-state. Maduro, who leans to the left, sees US military threats as the "greatest threat" to Latin America in a century. He has mobilized some 340,000 soldiers and has also announced plans to recruit more than four million fighters for the South American country's paramilitary militia.
