Venezuela has announced that it is launching a “massive deployment” of nearly 200,000 soldiers in direct response to the United States sending its largest aircraft carrier into waters near Latin America, escalating tensions between the two nations.
Venezuelan Defense Minister, Vladimir Padrino López confirmed that officials were placing “the entire country’s military arsenal on full operational readiness.” Preparations include the “massive deployment of ground, aerial, naval, riverine and missile forces.”
Padrino stated that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro personally ordered the massive mobilization as part of a special operation. Land, air, naval, and reserve forces are set to carry out war drills through Wednesday to “optimize command, control and communications” and ensure the country’s defense.
He explicitly labeled the move as a response to the “imperialist threat” posed by the U.S. buildup of warships and troops in the Caribbean Sea.
The Venezuelan military exercises will reportedly also involve the Bolivarian Militia, a civilian reserve force created by former President Hugo Chávez.
The mobilization announcement came shortly after the U.S. Navy confirmed that the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group arrived in the Latin American region Tuesday, within the U.S. Southern Command area of operations.
The vessel’s arrival had been anticipated for weeks, following a Pentagon order on October 24 for the Ford to relocate from Europe. The Navy’s most modern aircraft carrier, the Ford carries 4,000 sailors, accompanied by numerous more aboard the three destroyers: the USS Bainbridge, USS Mahan, and USS Winston S. Churchill.
The entry of the strike group increases the number of U.S. troops in the region to about 15,000. While U.S. officials argue the mission is intended to dismantle transnational criminal organizations and curb drug-smuggling, this buildup which includes eight warships already deployed, an estimated 5,000 service members in Puerto Rico, and several bomber training flights near the Venezuelan coast, represents an extraordinary military presence in a region that typically hosts minimal Navy vessels.
The Trump administration has also recently shifted its approach to handling alleged drug boats, carrying out at least 19 strikes that have killed at least 76 people since September. U.S. officials claim the strikes were justified, arguing the vessels were carrying drugs bound for the U.S.
Before this aggressive approach, which war experts have labeled as potentially illegal, the U.S. Coast Guard would routinely detain suspects and prosecute them.
Maduro has consistently framed Washington’s actions as a bid to force him out of office, a possibility President Trump recently floated in an interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” after earlier suggesting he was weighing possible strikes inside the country. Administration officials have since stated the U.S. is not currently planning strikes inside Venezuela.
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