Venezuela has initiated large-scale military drills in response to mounting tensions with the United States, fueled by recent U.S. naval deployments in the Caribbean. President Nicolás Maduro, who personally oversees the operations, described the maneuvers as “special revolutionary operations” aimed at defending the country’s sovereignty.
The exercises, officially named The Bolivarian Shield 2025, feature extensive mobilization of Venezuela’s armed forces. According to official figures, the drills involve 59 naval vessels, 50 aircraft, 250 heavy armored vehicles, and around 150,000 personnel engaged in 290 coordinated operations, including live-fire training, strategic marches, and simulated strikes on key infrastructure.
Venezuelan officials stated the maneuvers were organized in direct response to U.S. military actions in the region. Washington has deployed three guided-missile destroyers, an additional guided-missile cruiser, two attack submarines, and other combat ships, supported by roughly 4,500 U.S. Marines and servicemen. The U.S. maintains the buildup is intended to counter narcotics trafficking in the Caribbean, but Caracas has repeatedly denounced the move as a provocation and a threat to its sovereignty.
Maduro, who remains under heavy U.S. sanctions and faces a $50 million bounty from Washington over allegations of leading a narcotics trafficking network, delivered a defiant address on Thursday. “Our diplomacy is not one of cannons and threats, because the world cannot return to the age of gunboat diplomacy. No one will lay their hands on this land!” he declared.
Earlier in the week, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López announced additional deployments of naval ships and surveillance drones to reinforce the Caribbean coastline. At the same time, 15,000 troops were stationed along the Colombian border amid concerns of potential cross-border incursions or unrest.
In a further show of force, Maduro ordered the mobilization of the Bolivarian Militia, a civilian reserve force estimated at 4.5 million members, to act as a defensive vanguard should any invasion or proxy attack occur.
The Trump administration, in both its first and current term, has maintained a hardline stance toward Venezuela, having recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as interim president in 2019 and later backing an unsuccessful coup attempt that April. Reports also surfaced during Trump’s first term suggesting he questioned advisers on the feasibility of a U.S. military invasion of Venezuela.