Overview

• U.S. media, including NBC News, report that military planners are drafting options for attacks on drug targets inside Venezuela, with timelines described by sources as potentially weeks away.
• China formally condemned the U.S. operations as unilateral and excessive, opposing the use of force and external interference in Venezuela’s internal affairs.
• President Donald Trump publicly rejected Nicolás Maduro’s letter proposing dialogue and offering help to locate leaders of the Tren de Aragua gang, while Washington has raised the reward for Maduro to $50 million.
• Venezuela is sustaining domestic mobilization with drills, militia recruitment, a nationwide preparedness simulation, and preparations for a possible state of exception.
• The United States says its naval strikes targeted narcotraffickers, but casualty counts range across reports and the legal basis is contested, as regional reactions split between support from Trinidad and Tobago and condemnation from allies such as Nicaragua and criticism from Colombia’s Gustavo Petro.