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THE war of words between the governments of the United States and Venezuela is rapidly escalating into strong hints at military confrontation by both sides.
Latest reports from Reuters is that the US military's intended deployment of 4,500 soldiers, sailors and marines in the South Caribbean is actually intended to be off the coast of Venezuela, whose leader Nicolas Maduro has in turn vowed to meet this threat with a counter-deployment of exactly the same number of Venezuelan militiamen.
This is happening after the US doubled the bounty on Maduro's head, which went from US$15 million in 2020 to US$25 million in January to US$50 million on August 7.
All this comes as Venezuelan news agency Telesur on August 19 reported the capture of six people for allegedly recently plotting to bomb a parade at Venezuela Square, Caracas.
"On Tuesday, Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello informed that authorities captured Carlos Arrieta (aka El Flaco), who built the explosive device used in the attempted terrorist attack at Venezuela Square in Caracas." Also arrested was Ariannys Araujo (aka La Negra) alleged to have contacted Colombian gangs to install the explosives intended to be detonated at the site.
On August 19, White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt referred to the troop deployment in international waters near Venezuela to say President Trump has been very clear and consistent.
"He is willing to use the full power of the United States to stop the flow of drugs into the country. Maduro is not a legitimate president."
Otherwise Reuters on August 18 ran a story titled – US deploys warships near Venezuela to combat drug threats, sources say.
It said, "Three US Aegis guided-missile destroyers will arrive off the coast of Venezuela in the next 36 hours as part of an effort to address threats from Latin American drug cartels, two sources briefed on the matter said on Monday. "The sources said the ships are the USS Gravely, USS Jason Dunham and the USS Sampson."
The story recalled President Donald Trump vowing to use the US military to go after Latin American drug gangs, designated by the US as global terrorist organisations.
Reuters has reported about 4,000 sailors and marines involved these current anti-drug operations unfolding in the southern Caribbean.
It quoted an unnamed US official saying military assets involved would include several P-8 spy planes, warships and at least one attack submarine.
The official said the process would be ongoing for several months and the plan was for them to operate in international airspace and international waters.
"The naval assets can be used to not just carry out intelligence and surveillance operations, but also as a launching pad for targeted strikes if a decision is made, the official added."
The story quoted Maduro vowing to "defend our seas, our skies and our lands" against what he called "the outlandish, bizarre threat of a declining empire."
Previously, on August 14, Reuters had merely reported a US deployment of air and naval forces to the southern Caribbean Sea, to curb threats from Latin American drug cartels, without any mention of Venezuela. At that time, CNN reported US defence officials declaring the deployment of the two Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group (ARG) and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit as to the US military's Southern Command (Southcom).
That same day US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was scathing towards the Maduro regime, which he termed "criminal" rather than governmental.
In a video-clip posted online, he said, “There are designated narco terrorist groups operating in the region, some of them utilizing international airspace, international waters to transit poison into the United States, and those groups will be confronted. The President has made that clear." He dubbed Venezuelan government, as illegitimate.
Rubio said the Cartel of the Suns was a criminal organisation masquerading as a government in Venezuela.
"The Maduro regime is not a government. We have never recognised them as such.
"They are a criminal enterprise that basically has taken control of national territory of a country, who by the way are also threatening US oil companies that are operating lawfully in Guyana.
"The President was very firm: Anything that is a threat to the national security of the United States, he is going to confront."
Days earlier, Rubio had claimed Maduro headed a drug-trafficking group, Cartel de los Soles, bringing narcotics into the US, plus had failed to bring any proof of winning the 2024 Venezuela presidential election.
On August 18, Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau tweeted a message aimed at Venezuelan interior minister Diosdado Cabello.
“You and your gang of brutal criminals have destroyed your homeland in a way that few times in human history has a great country been so devastated. Last year’s elections and the tsunami of migration abroad clearly demonstrate to the entire world the absolute rejection by your own people," Landau said.
"You, who think yourselves so clever, have not fooled anyone. It is you who have harassed and declared war on the great people of Venezuela. No wonder you and your gang of thugs are running around full of anguish while I walk calmly. History shows how tyrants end.”
Maduro on August 18 vowed to deploy 4.5 million militia members in response to "outlandish threats" by the US after Washington raised the bounty for his arrest to $50 million and launched anti-drug operations in the Caribbean, according to a story by CBS News.
"This week, I will activate a special plan with more than 4.5 million militiamen to ensure coverage of the entire national territory — militias that are prepared, activated and armed," Maduro announced on state television. Reuters said the Venezuelan militia could contain up to five million people but was thought to be fewer, in Venezuela's total population of 30 million.
Earlier, on August 15 Venezuelan defence minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez urged his countrymen to defend the dignity of Venezuela, in the newspaper El Nacional. "Unity makes us invincible."
Upon first news of the US deployment to the Southern Caribbean, Cabello had declared, "We are also deployed. We are deployed throughout the Caribbean which belongs to us, in our sea, in Venezuelan property, Venezuelan territory." He alleged the only drug cartel present was the US government's Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), quoted in El Nacional.
[caption id="attachment_1173031" align="alignnone" width="1024"] FILE - View of the U.S.S. Gravely (DDG 107) destroyer, February 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File) -[/caption]
Colombian President Gustavo Petro recently said any attack on Venezuela would be considered an attack on Latin America and the Caribbean. "I don't believe the solution to Venezuela's political problems lies in paying to kill or capture political leaders."
While Rubio has dubbed Maduro a narco trafficker – which a bounty was placed on his head – news reports and literature is inconclusive.
AP News on May 14 said Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard had fired National Intelligence Council (NIC) acting chair Michael Collins and deputy head Maria Langan-Riekhof – each with over 25 years of service – following the release of a declassified NIC that found no co-ordination between the Venezuelan Government and the Tren de Aragua (TDA) criminal organisation. The report itself says, "While Venezuela's permissive environment enables TDA to operate, the Maduro regime probably does not have a policy of co-operating with the TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the US." It spoke of "an uneasy mix of co-operation and confrontation."
A website noted the Cartel of the Suns "evolving from a loose knit trafficking network to an elaborate system of patronage used to distribute the wealth of the drug trade to those Maduro needs to stay loyal."
 
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