Overview
- Padrino López said the U.S. government is an instrument for war and used stark rhetoric about Americans returning home in body bags during a televised military ceremony.
- Recent flight-tracking reviewed by AFP shows U.S. F/A-18s flew within roughly 35–40 kilometers of Venezuela’s coast, with additional B-1 and B-52 bomber sorties and long-endurance drone patrols in recent weeks.
- Washington describes the buildup as counter-narcotics operations, reporting at least 87 suspected traffickers killed since early September across the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific.
- Venezuelan authorities say the country remains on sustained military mobilization and insist they clamor for peace even as they declare themselves in rebellion against U.S. imperialism.
- Analysts at CSIS describe the U.S. deployment as the largest in the region since the 1990–91 Gulf War era, and U.S. officials do not recognize Nicolás Maduro’s legitimacy and accuse him of leading the so‑called Cartel de los Soles.