Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has been at odds with several U.S. presidential administrations, but the rift between the Venezuelan government and the United States seems to be coming to a head. Maduro, who is widely considered a dictator and not recognized by the U.S. as Venezuela's legitimate leader, dispatched militia soldiers to counter a deployment of military forces by President Donald Trump, in the latest sign that things are escalating between the two countries.
Maduro deploying militia
Trump has long targeted Venezuela, claiming that drugs from the country are pouring into the U.S. through illegal channels. The president has "pushed for using the U.S. military to thwart cartels he blames for the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs," said The Associated Press. As part of this military force, Trump dispatched a trio of U.S. Navy destroyers into the waters off the Venezuelan coast.
In response, Maduro "said he would deploy 4.5 million militia members in response to 'outlandish threats' by the United States," said CBS News. Maduro's move was also seemingly in response to the Trump administration raising the longstanding bounty on his head from $25 million to $50 million.
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"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," said Maduro in a televised address. But the true number of Venezuela's militia is unclear; official "figures say the Venezuelan militia, founded by Maduro's predecessor Hugo Chavez, contains about 5 million people — though the actual number is believed to be smaller," said CBS News. Venezuela itself only has a population of about 30 million.
'The empire has gone mad'
The escalation between the U.S. and Venezuela may not come to a quick end. When asked if the "increased U.S. Navy presence in the Caribbean could eventually translate to a military intervention inside Venezuela, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt did not rule out the possibility," said the Miami Herald. Trump is "prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice," Leavitt said, calling Maduro a fugitive cartel head.
Maduro also seems to think that the conflict could escalate. "The empire has gone mad and has renewed its threats to Venezuela's peace and tranquility," Maduro said in his address. But this type of military action has been seen before. In 2020, the "first Trump administration also launched what it called 'an enhanced counternarcotics operation' near Venezuelan shores that also targeted the Maduro regime," said the Herald.
Trump has tried to ramp up rhetoric against Venezuela by designating the country's Tren de Aragua gang as a foreign terrorist organization. This "designation is normally reserved for groups like Al Qaeda or the Islamic State group that use violence for political ends — not for money-focused crime rings such as the Latin American cartels," said the AP.
Trump has also attempted to bring other countries into the fray to pressure Venezuela, most notably Mexico. But Trump already has a contentious relationship with Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, and it doesn't seem that Mexico wants to create further disarray in Latin America. Sheinbaum has "rejected US allegations linking Maduro to Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel, saying her government had no evidence of such ties," said Al Jazeera.
