Overview

• Venezuela conducted a countrywide simulation to prepare civilians for natural disasters and possible armed conflict, alongside ongoing militia recruitment and contingency planning.
• At the UN, Foreign Minister Yván Gil denounced the U.S. naval operation in the southern Caribbean as an illegal threat to sovereignty and said Caracas may invoke a state of exception.
• NBC News reported, citing anonymous sources, that U.S. military planners are weighing options to hit drug‑trafficking targets inside Venezuela, a claim that has not been officially detailed.
• The U.S. maintains a naval deployment that has carried out multiple lethal strikes on small boats near Venezuela, with officials reporting at least 14 deaths in recent weeks.
• International reactions remain split as China condemned the U.S. actions, Trinidad and Tobago voiced support for the deployment, Nicaragua backed Venezuela, and Colombia’s president urged legal scrutiny of the U.S. strikes.