JAKARTA - Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro believes the mobilization of United States (US) troops to combat drug cartel vessels and the holding of joint military exercises in the Caribbean Sea are a ploy by the Trump administration to overthrow him.
Maduro criticized the US for continuing to increase its military presence in the Caribbean, under the guise of joint military exercises with its ally Trinidad and Tobago.
"The government of Trinidad and Tobago has once again announced irresponsible exercises, lending its waters off the coast of the state of Sucre for military exercises intended to threaten a republic like Venezuela, which does not allow itself to be threatened by anyone," Maduro said at an event in Caracas, as quoted by AFP on Sunday, November 16.
This is the second joint exercise conducted by the US and Trinidad and Tobago militaries in less than a month in the Caribbean Sea.
For another exercise in October 2025, a US guided-missile destroyer docked in Trinidad for four days, within striking range of Venezuela. Venezuela considered the presence of these weapons a provocation.
In eastern Venezuela, during the US-Trinidad military exercises, Maduro issued a call for citizens to maintain vigilance in the streets from November 16-21, 2025.
Illustration of a military vessel. (Unsplash-Germannavyphotograph)
The US has deployed warships, fighter jets, and thousands of troops to Latin America in recent weeks.
In the region, the US launched attacks on 21 vessels suspected of being involved in drug trafficking, resulting in the deaths of 80 civilians.
The Trump administration has so far provided no evidence to substantiate the targeting of US military targets in Latin America, including in the Caribbean Sea.
Many observers and human rights organizations have called the US strikes illegal.
On Tuesday, November 11, the US continued to increase its military presence in the Caribbean Sea with the deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford.
The US aircraft carrier is equipped with nine air squadrons, two Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers – the USS Bainbridge and the USS Mahan – the integrated air and missile defense command ship USS Winston S. Churchill, and more than 4,000 service members.
According to US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Thursday, November 13, the US has begun military operations targeting "narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere." However, he did not explain how the operation would differ from previous US military deployments.
Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López said on Wednesday, November 12, that he would deploy military personnel, weapons, and equipment in the Caribbean Sea in response to increased US forces in waters near his country.
In addition to regular military units, he added, the exercises would involve the Bolivarian Militia – a civilian reserve force formed by the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and named after the revolutionary Simon Bolívar, who secured the independence of many Latin American countries from Spain.
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