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By Brendan Cole
Senior Reporter
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Venezuela’s president Nicolas Maduro has accused Donald Trump of warmongering after he deployed the U.S. Navy's largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R Ford, to the Caribbean.
Maduro told his country’s state media that the U.S. was "inventing a new eternal war" as the Trump administration ramps up an operation to target alleged drug smuggling boats.
It comes as the U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that six "narco-terrorists" had been killed in the latest American strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat in the Caribbean Sea.
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Why It Matters
Along with most countries, the U.S. does not recognize Maduro as the president of Venezuela, following 2024 elections he is accused of stealing.
But Maduro and his regime are also the focus of Trump’s crackdown on narcotics smuggling. Recent strikes on boats in the Caribbean the U.S. says are linked to the Venezuelan leader have coincided with a major American military buildup in the region.
Maduro’s comments will add to tensions which are already high given the deployment to the Caribbean of the U.S. Navy's largest aircraft carrier to join U.S. Navy ships and a nuclear-powered submarine.
What To Know
Maduro has accused the U.S. of "fabricating a new war" after it sent the world's largest warship, which can carry up to 90 aircraft, to the Caribbean.
The U.S. has already deployed eight Navy ships to the region, as well as nuclear-powered submarine and around 6,000 sailors and marines, according to officials.
The increased American military presence in the Caribbean follows at least 10 air strikes on vessels in the area that the Trump administration has said it part of a war on drug trafficking operation linked to Maduro, who has denied the claims.
Defense Secretary Hegseth announced the most recent strike on a boat he claimed was operated by Tren de Aragua—a Venezuelan gang designated by the Trump administration as a terrorist organization.
Maduro said in an address on Friday that the U.S. had promised they would never again get involved in a war but they are getting involved in a “new eternal war.”
The Pentagon said in a statement that the additional forces deployed to the Caribbean would enhance capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade transnational criminal organizations. But there will be regional jitters over whether the carrier's deployment is intended for strikes inside Venezuela and if it precedes a move by Trump to topple Maduro.
Kenneth Roberts, a Latin America expert from Cornell University, told Newsweek that under Trump, the U.S. was returning to a pattern of interventionism in Latin America.
Roberts said what is novel is publicly announcing the authorization of covert activities against the Maduro regime, while also pairing them with lethal military attacks on civilian boats off the Venezuelan coast for alleged involvement in drug trafficking.
Trump is now threatening to take action against Colombia as well, however, Latin American countries have often joined forces to oppose unilateral U.S. interventionism in the past.
“But political divisions between left-wing and right-wing governments in Latin America create uncertainties about the region's response to this new assertiveness in Washington,” Roberts added.
What People Are Saying
Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro said during an address in Caracas: "The people of the United States know it, they are inventing a new eternal war. They promised they would never get involved in another war, and now they are inventing a war that we are going to prevent. How? By mobilizing the peoples of South America."
In a statement, Pentagon said about the USS Gerald R Ford deployment: "will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle transnational criminal organizations."
Kenneth Roberts, professor, Cornell University told Newsweek: "It has become clear that the U.S. is returning to a very familiar pattern of interventionism in Latin America in Donald Trump's second presidency."
What Happens Next
Trump has suggested there could be “land action” in Venezuela and hinted at strikes on cocaine facilities inland. Following Maduro's comments, questions remain over whether the U.S. action is merely a symbolic show of force or whether it could lead to direct strikes inside Venezuela.
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