Venezuela’s authoritarian leader Nicolás Maduro has urged Donald Trump not to drag the United States into another “forever war” akin to Afghanistan, amid the growing US military presence in the region and Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth’s declaration of his intent to rid the Western Hemisphere of “narco-terrorists”.
Speaking with CNN outside the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Maduro appealed to Trump to choose the path of peace following the arrival of the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, in the region. “Enough of forever wars. Enough of unjust wars. Enough of Libya. Enough of Afghanistan. Long live peace,” the 62-year-old president said late Thursday as he made his way through a crowd toward a pro-government rally.
Just hours after Maduro’s remarks, Hegseth announced the launch of an operation called “Southern Spear,” escalating pressure on the Venezuelan leader. “The Western Hemisphere is our neighborhood, and we will defend it,” he wrote on X, adding that the mission of Southern Command is meant to protect “our home” and shield the country from “the drugs that are killing our people.”
Why Hegseth chose to make this announcement now remains unclear: ten months ago, US Southern Command had already signaled the imminent launch of an operation expected to rely on “a heterogeneous set of robotic and autonomous systems to detect and monitor illicit trafficking” in the Caribbean.
Hegseth’s comments may point to an attempt to draw attention and repackage the Trump administration’s pressure campaign on Maduro, which has already included a series of strikes on vessels suspected of drug trafficking in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean.
Officially, the Trump administration presents the large-scale deployment of US forces as part of its “war on drugs” and an effort to prevent Latin American cartels from “flooding” the United States with cocaine and fentanyl.
Yet Venezuela does not produce cocaine—an activity carried out almost exclusively in Bolivia, Colombia and Peru. Nor does it play any role in fentanyl supply chains, which are centered on Mexico.
For that reason, many analysts view the current deployment—the largest in the region since the 1989 invasion of Panama—as a political campaign aimed at achieving what Trump failed to accomplish during his first term: removing Maduro from power.
María Corina Machado Says Only Military Pressure Will Force Maduro to Step Down
Her Statement Comes Shortly After Reports of Trump Administration Plans to Strike Venezuelan Military Targets
The Pentagon Announces the Launch of Military Operation SOUTHERN SPEAR to Combat Narco-Terrorists in the Western Hemisphere
Details of the Mission Remain Undisclosed; Hegseth Says the Goal Is to Protect the U.S. from Drugs and Criminal Networks
This week, CBS News reported that senior military officials had presented Trump with “options for potential operations in Venezuela, including strikes on the country’s territory,” though two sources stressed that no final decision has been made.
Venezuela’s foreign minister, Yván Gil, delivered a defiant message to what he called the “North American empire”: “Just try. We are ready,” he said.
Amid growing speculation about a possible airstrike, Reuters reported that Maduro’s government has prepared plans for a “guerrilla response” to any US attack.
According to the agency, the plans call for “small military units operating across more than 280 sites,” tasked with carrying out sabotage and other guerrilla actions against foreign forces.
Under a second scenario, described as “anarchization,” pro-Kremlin structures—including intelligence services—intend to sow chaos in the streets of Caracas “and make Venezuela ungovernable for foreign troops,” two sources told Reuters.