U.S. military planners reportedly believe that the American force now assembled in the Caribbean Sea is capable of seizing and holding key strategic locations inside Venezuela, including ports, airfields, and major infrastructure.
According to a report published by the Washington Examiner, a conservative outlet known for its close ties to the White House, senior U.S. defense officials have privately assessed that the scale and composition of the deployment far exceed what is typically necessary for a counter-narcotics mission.
The buildup, which began in late August, includes Navy destroyers, a nuclear-powered submarine, the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (roughly 2,200 Marines), F-35 stealth fighters, Harrier jets, and elite special operations units. Analysts note that such a force is well-suited not only for interdiction missions but also for precision “decapitation” strikes and, ultimately, a potential invasion of Venezuelan territory.
The Examiner report also references recent U.S. military exercises—including parachute drops into the Caribbean Sea and mock airfield seizures—carried out in late August as indicators of operational readiness for a possible surprise airborne assault designed to rapidly destabilize the government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Since early September, U.S. strikes against alleged Venezuelan drug-smuggling vessels have killed more than a dozen people, though the Biden-era War Powers oversight framework still requires the White House to provide formal justification to Congress—something lawmakers from both parties say has not yet occurred.
Venezuela has long represented a focal point of U.S. foreign policy friction. During his first term, President Donald Trump recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the country’s legitimate president and later backed an unsuccessful coup attempt in April 2019—a failure that became one of Trump’s most visible foreign policy setbacks.
With new tensions rising and the U.S. military positioned for potential escalation, analysts suggest Trump may see Venezuela as an opportunity to reverse that earlier embarrassment. In Caracas, President Maduro has ordered a full mobilization of the armed forces and civilian militias, while preparing to declare a national emergency should hostilities break out.