WASHINGTON – As President Donald Trump weighs military action inside Venezuela, building up forces in the Caribbean and flying B-52 bombers off the country’s coast this week, Nicolás Maduro is responding in kind, repositioning troops, mobilizing “millions” of militia and denouncing US activity in the region – a sign of defiance from the strongman as the two leaders are locked in a standoff. Trump administration officials have privately acknowledged that the intensifying US pressure campaign is aimed at ousting Maduro, a goal that was also a target of Trump’s first term in office when the White House recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the legitimate president of the country in 2019. But as the Trump team ratchets up the pressure this fall, Maduro has in turn ramped up the rhetoric and propaganda for Venezuelans while calling for new military exercises by the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, which has some 123,000 members. In recent weeks, the US military has moved warships and other weaponry into the region and has targeted boats off the Venezuelan coast it says are transporting drugs. Then on Wednesday, Trump acknowledged that he’d authorized the CIA to conduct covert action in Venezuela and said the United States was considering strikes on Venezuelan territory. “We are certainly looking at land now, because we’ve got the sea very well under control,” the president told reporters Wednesday.
Maduro has claimed that his volunteer militias now have more than 8 million reservists, though experts have called into question that number as well as the quality of the troops’ training. As of October 17, 20 out of 23 Venezuelan states have been militarized as part of the Maduro’s military mobilizations, called Independence 200. On his Truth Social account last month, Trump mocked a video of women, some who appeared to be overweight, running with guns during a purported training for the Venezuelan militia. The Trump administration has been quietly laying the groundwork for potential military action inside Venezuela for months by tying Maduro to drug traffickers and cartels that officials have designated as terror groups who pose an imminent threat to the US. But to date, there is no indication that Trump has decided to take that step or target the Venezuelan leader directly. Instead, the goal has been to pressure Maduro to step down on his own, sources told CNN, in part by establishing a credible threat of US military action if he does not. The recent strikes against alleged drug boats in the Caribbean are a clear message to Maduro, the sources said, noting the administration has been very intentional about linking the Venezuelan leader to trafficking groups and cartels.
