The US escalated its confrontation with Venezuela as President Donald Trump confirmed CIA covert operations, signaling that on-land strikes “could come soon.”
Trump said Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro “has already offered Venezuela’s natural resources,” adding, “he doesn’t want to f*** around with the United States.”
The president also confirmed he had green-lit the CIA to operate inside Venezuela. “I authorized for two reasons really. Number one, they have emptied their prisons into the United States of America… they came in through the border. The other thing are drugs,” he told reporters.
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Since early September, US forces have carried out at least six strikes on boats in the Caribbean. The administration labeled the passengers “narco-terrorists” tied to trafficking, but has not released identifying evidence.
One strike targeted a Colombian vessel, according to Colombian President Gustavo Petro. A family in Trinidad and Tobago believes a relative was among the dead.
On Friday, Trump addressed reports that two people survived the sixth strike. “We attacked a submarine, and that was a drug-carrying submarine,” he said, without providing proof of the vessel type or its cargo. A Defense Department official said two survivors were taken into custody.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the operations. “We’re undertaking these operations against narco-terrorists,” he said. “That’s what these are. These are terrorists.”
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The Pentagon formalized the legal framing in late September, notifying some lawmakers that Trump determined the US is in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels and that the now-Department of War would conduct operations under the law of armed conflict.
Legal analysts and some Defense Department lawyers have questioned the approach since drug traffickers are not combatants under US or international law. A Senate effort led by Democrats and joined by two Republicans to halt the strikes failed last week.
Migration pressures continue: about 770,000 Venezuelans lived in the US in 2023, and in October 2025 the Supreme Court sided with the Trump administration to terminate temporary protected status for Venezuelans, allowing deportations to proceed immediately.
Military movement
Three US Air Force B-52 bombers flew off Venezuela’s coast for over four hours on Wednesday, at one point within 53 miles of La Orchila Island and about 132 miles from the mainland around 11:20 a.m. local time. The flights followed the maritime buildup and the series of boat strikes.
Command tensions surfaced as Adm. Alvin Holsey, the US Southern Command chief overseeing the Caribbean theater, announced his retirement after about a year in the role. Reporting indicates friction with Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth over tempo and legal risk, while Pentagon lawyers had raised concerns about strike legality.
Trump has tied the campaign to drugs and migration, though a secret April intelligence assessment concluded Maduro’s regime does not operate directly with the Tren de Aragua gang. Tulsi Gabbard, Director of National Intelligence, fired the report’s two authors. US drug data in the notes indicate a very small share of fentanyl comes from Venezuela and less than 10% of US-bound cocaine transits the eastern Caribbean off Venezuela.
Maduro has also mobilized at home, militarizing 20 of 23 states under exercises known as Independence 200 and touted “more than 8 million” reservists, a number experts have questioned. He issued an “external commotion” decree to expand emergency powers and appealed to the UN Security Council to declare the boat strikes illegal.
“Our people are clear, united, and aware,” he said on state television, calling US activity a conspiracy against Venezuela’s peace and stability.
The New York Times reported Maduro offered preferential access to Venezuelan oil for US firms and to curb sales to China. Venezuela’s oil exports reached a five-year high this month after the administration in July walked back a February move to cut off Chevron’s business in the country.
Trump ended talks led by special envoy Richard Grenell earlier this month. He raised the bounty for Maduro’s arrest to $50 million in August. The administration previously backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó, whose 2019 bid to take power failed.
It is worth noting that the movement comes amid the announcement of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2025. Despite months of publicly angling for the honor, Trump did not win. Instead, the committee awarded it to María Corina Machado “for her steadfast advocacy of democratic rights in Venezuela and her determined pursuit of a peaceful shift from dictatorship to democracy.”
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