Overview
- Senior U.S. military leaders are evaluating plans for strikes on Venezuelan territory targeting suspected traffickers and drug labs, with NBC reporting actions could occur within weeks if approved.
- Washington has deployed at least eight warships, a nuclear-powered attack submarine, F-35B fighters and more than 4,500 personnel to the southern Caribbean under a counternarcotics mission.
- U.S. forces say they have destroyed multiple suspected drug boats in international waters with fatalities reported, while Caracas denounces the actions as illegal killings and rejects the trafficking claims.
- Venezuela is sustaining a domestic mobilization that includes civil preparedness drills, expanded militia recruitment and draft decrees for an estado de conmoción exterior.
- Regional reactions are intensifying as Barbados’ prime minister warns island nations must not be treated as collateral damage, Cuba limits its backing for Caracas to diplomacy, and Venezuelan fishermen report changing practices out of fear.