Overview

• Venezuelan troops ran weapons and tactics lessons in Caracas barrios and other cities, following Maduro’s call to prepare volunteers for a possible U.S. attack.
• Trump demanded Venezuela immediately accept deportees, including prisoners and psychiatric patients, warning of “incalculable” costs, while repatriation flights continued with 185 arrivals Friday and more than 13,000 this year.
• Washington maintains a large regional deployment—warships, a nuclear-powered submarine and F‑35 jets in Puerto Rico—and says at least three suspected drug boats were destroyed this month with multiple fatalities.
• Venezuela staged three days of drills on La Orchila with about 2,500 troops, armor, aircraft and naval units, as Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino labeled the U.S. actions an “undeclared war.”
• Attorney General Tarek William Saab asked the UN to probe the strikes as crimes against humanity, UN‑mandated experts questioned their legality, and Maduro denied narcotrafficking ties in a letter inviting Trump to dialogue; Venezuelan state media also reported his YouTube channel was removed.