Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has alleged that eight U.S. military vessels carrying a staggering total of 1,200 missiles are positioning to target his country, branding the deployment “absolutely criminal” and the gravest threat Latin America has faced in a century. Speaking at a rare press briefing in Caracas, Maduro denounced the naval build-up—which includes a submarine—as a direct and hostile assault on Venezuela’s sovereignty, promising that his nation “remains peaceful but will not bow to threats” and insisting that his government has declared “maximum readiness to defend Venezuela.”
His remarks come amid a pronounced escalation in U.S. naval activity near Venezuelan waters, formally aimed at curbing drug trafficking. The Trump administration has deployed multiple warships including Aegis-guided destroyers, a missile cruiser, amphibious assault vessels, and a nuclear-powered submarine along with roughly 4,000 personnel and at least one spy plane, to the southern Caribbean. While Washington frames the deployment as anti-narcotics enforcement, analysts view it as “gunboat diplomacy,” designed to visibly pressure the Maduro regime amid charges that he leads a narco-terrorist organization.
In reaction, Maduro has mobilized Venezuela’s military and components of the Bolivarian militia, ordering deployment of 15,000 troops to the Colombian border, drone patrols of territorial waters, and the activation of over four million militia volunteers, a show of domestic readiness in response to perceived intimidation. Washington, for its part, has denied any invasion plans. Instead, officials emphasize the naval presence targets organized crime and drug networks and cite a recently doubled $50 million reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest under narco-terrorism charges.
