Overview

• Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino announced naval patrols and a significant drone presence along the Caribbean coast, including larger vessels operating further north in Venezuelan territorial waters.
• Caracas delivered a letter to the United Nations denouncing the U.S. deployment and raising concerns over a nuclear-powered submarine in the region, seeking guarantees against nuclear threats.
• President Nicolás Maduro ordered 15,000 troops to reinforce the Colombia border and has promoted militia mobilization as part of a broader defensive posture.
• The U.S. has three destroyers and an amphibious group with roughly 4,000–4,500 personnel in the southern Caribbean, and U.S. sources report a guided-missile cruiser (USS Lake Erie) and fast-attack submarine (USS Newport News) are being sent.
• The administration’s push targets Venezuela-linked trafficking networks designated as terrorist entities, with analysts assessing the military posture as pressure and interdiction rather than evidence of an imminent invasion, even as escalation risks persist near key oil ports in the Gulf of Venezuela.