Overview
- Caracas inducted 5,600 soldiers and officers vowed to resist any foreign incursion during a ceremony at Fuerte Tiuna in the capital.
- The U.S. has concentrated a major force near Venezuela, including the USS Gerald R. Ford and roughly 16,000 personnel, after declaring Venezuelan airspace effectively closed on November 29.
- American forces have conducted more than 80 lethal strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats near Venezuela, with reported deaths exceeding 80.
- President Trump has threatened that ground operations against alleged cartel targets inside Venezuela could begin “very soon,” after designating the so-called Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization.
- A Niskanen Center study projects 1.7–3 million people could flee in scenarios involving brief conflict, with more than 4 million displaced if fighting becomes protracted, while rights groups question the campaign’s legal basis and evidence.