Senior officials in Donald Trump’s administration held three meetings at the White House this week to discuss options for possible military operations in Venezuela, it has been reported.
According to CNN, military officials met to discuss a path forward Nicolas Maduro whom Trump has accused of having close ties to the illegal drug trade.
It comes as the US military presence in the Caribbean grows and drills in the region are expected to intensify.
Which military assets have been deployed so far?
Trump has already deployed F-35 aircraft, warships and a nuclear submarine to the region as part of a military buildup. Earlier this week, the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier strike group moved into the Latin America region – bringing with it more than 75 military aircraft and over 5,000 troops.
The US has also requested to set up military radar system at Grenada’s Maurice Bishop International Airport. No decision has been confirmed yet.
The USS Gravely Destroyer arrived to dock for military exercises in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on 26 October (Photo: Robert Taylor/AP)Meanwhile, an investigation by Reuters found the US military is upgrading a long-abandoned former Cold War naval base in the Caribbean, suggesting preparations for sustained operations that could support possible actions inside Venezuela.
Deadly strikes against boats in Caribbean Sea
The ramping up of the US military presence in the region comes after two months of deadly strikes against boats off Venezuela accused of smuggling drugs.
The Pentagon has carried out at least 20 strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific, killing 80 people.
Trump and his administration claim the air strikes are targeting drug vessels but they have not released any evidence to support these allegations or identify suspected drug smugglers killed in the attacks.
Donald Trump posted footage of a boat burning off the coast of Venezuela on social media (Photo: Donald Trump via Truth Social/via Reuters)Relatives of one Trinidadian man, 26-year-old Chad Joseph, believed to have been killed in one of the strikes have said he was a fisherman, not a drug smuggler.
Democrats and legal experts have questioned the legality of the strikes and some European allies have criticised the operations with reports stating the UK has suspended intelligence sharing in the region.
Is there a risk of all-out war?
Experts say war between the United States and Venezuela has edged closer.
Despite saying that the deadliness of his first air strikes had completely terminated the flow of narcotics via ocean-going vessels, Trump has continued to threaten the possibility of expanding his military action and launching air strikes on what he called “cartels coming by land”.
“Were he to follow through on that threat, the stage would be set for possible strikes on Venezuelan soil,” The i Paper’s US commentator Simon Marks wrote.
Trump suggested on Friday that a decision could come soon on whether or not to take military action against Venezuela.
Many analysts believe Trump’s true aim is to overthrow Venezuela’s President, Nicolás Maduro, which he was unable to achieve during his first term.
Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro has appealed for peace (Photo: Miraflores Palace/Reuters)Maduro is wanted on drug charges by the US, which he denies. He said he is preparing to declare a state of emergency to deal with a direct attack.
He has also appealed to the people of the US to unite with Venezuela for peace of the Americas. He has suggested a US attempt to force regime change could result in an Afghanistan-style “forever-war”.
While the US dwarfs Venezuela, Venezuela militarily, the South American country is deploying weapons, including decades-old Russian-made equipment, and is understood to be planning to mount a guerrilla-style resistance if the US mounts an offensive.
What stance will other nations take?
Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has supported the US’s strikes.
The Caribbean country’s attorney general John Jeremie told The Financial Times on Friday that US military would intensify exercises in Trinidad and Tobago “in the coming days”. Jeremie also refuted claims any Trinidadian fishermen had been killed in the strikes.
The UK’s stance is not clear, despite suspending intelligence reports with the US from the region.
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The UK previously said it stands in solidarity with the people of Venezuela but that Maduro’s claim to power is fraudulent and that the last election and said the outcome of July’s election “was neither free nor fair and his regime does not represent the will of the Venezuelan people”.
UN experts have acknowledged Trump’s justification for the military action, but said: “Even if such allegations were substantiated, the use of lethal force in international waters without proper legal basis violates the international law of the sea and amounts to extrajudicial executions.”
Colombia, a key US security partner, has also said it would stop sharing intelligence with Washington until the strikes on alleged drug traffickers stop.
Countries that are members of CARICOM, the alliance of 20 member states in the Americas, the Caribbean and Atlantic Ocean, have called for Washington to provide assurances that any military action aimed at Venezuela will not threaten regional stability or take place without advanced consultation and warning.
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