Overview
- CBS reported that senior U.S. military officials briefed President Trump on potential operations in Venezuela, including possible land strikes, with no decision announced and no comment from the White House or Pentagon.
- The USS Gerald R. Ford has entered the U.S. Southern Command area in the Caribbean, with officials citing counterdrug and homeland-protection missions as the deployment’s purpose and withholding its precise location.
- Venezuela staged a two-day exercise under Plan Independencia 200 that it says involved nearly 200,000 personnel including militias, as Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino condemned the U.S. presence as an imperialist threat.
- Press accounts say U.S. forces have attacked about 19 suspected drug boats with roughly 76 fatalities reported, and CNN reported the UK partially paused intelligence sharing over legal concerns.
- Experts quoted in coverage question the drug rationale by noting fentanyl supply chains run through China and Mexico, and some assess the risk of an open war as low given limitations on both sides.