Is Trump about to wage war against Maduro?

The Outlaw US Empire is deploying 3 warships and even a nuclear submarine off the coasts of Venezuela!

US President Donald J. Trump (L) and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro (R).

This time I have decided to move away from the Middle East and focus instead on America… and for quite an obvious reason, since US verbal threats against sovereign countries are now turning into actions, which risk escalating to a fully fledged war.

Earlier this week, the US “President of Peace” Donald J. Trump deployed 3 destroyers (USS Gravely, USS Jason Dunham, and USS Sampson), more than 4,000 marines and sailors, P-8 Poseidon patrol aircraft, and at least one nuclear attack submarine towards Venezuela, as per CBS and Miami Herald. This is the largest US naval deployment in the Caribbean since the 1989 invasion of Panama!

The Outlaw US Empire presented this operation as part of the fight against Latin American drug cartels, which the Trump administration recently classified as “global terrorist organizations”. In fact, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt was quoted by the Miami Herald as saying (emphasis mine):

President Trump has been very clear and consistent, he’s prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice. The Maduro regime is not the legitimate government of Venezuela. It is a narco terror cartel… It is the view of this administration [that Maduro] is not a legitimate president. He is a fugitive head of this cartel who has been indicted in the United States for trafficking drugs into the country.

Last month (July 2025), US Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a press statement accusing the legitimate Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, regularly elected by his people last year, of being the leader of a drug cartel (emphasis mine):

Maduro is the leader of the designated narco-terrorist organization Cartel de Los Soles, and he is responsible for trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe. Maduro, currently indicted by our nation, has corrupted Venezuela’s institutions to assist the cartel’s criminal narco-trafficking scheme into the United States.

…while, earlier this month, the US Department of Justice doubled the bounty on Maduro from $25 million to $50 million, the same amount offered for Osama bin Laden after 9/11, with Republican senator Bernie Moreno tweeting:

From X (formerly Twitter).

These accusations are lies! The truth is somewhere else. So, let’s turn to history to find some parallels and precedents…

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Manuel Noriega, military leader of Pana from 1983 to 1989 - from Wikipedia.

This escalation is reminiscent of Operation Just Cause, when a powerful US military force was deployed to Panama in 1989 to depose Manuel Noriega, curiously with a similar operation disguised as a fight against drug trafficking.

A casus belli (Latin for “cause of war”) that never goes out of fashion in South America but which, in light of historical facts, is unlikely to deceive anyone anymore… or, at least, people who have studied history and/or have some memory.

Noriega, nicknamed “cara de piña” (pineapple face) because of his acne scars, perfectly represents the ambiguity of the relationship between the Outlaw US Empire and drug trafficking. A collaborator for the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) since the 1950s, he also cooperated with the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration) in combating drug trafficking, but at the same time facilitated money laundering for the cartels and allowed traffickers to operate protected from the agency's investigations. The deterioration of relations began when Noriega refused to provide military support to the Contras in Nicaragua. The unfortunate fate of every friend of the Outlaw US Empire or, as Henry Kissinger once said:

It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal.

The US government's relationship with drug trafficking is now well known. With Plan Colombia, launched in 1999 by President Bill Clinton, Washington allocated approximately $1.3 billion with the stated goal of combating drug trafficking. In reality, analysts and the Colombian armed forces themselves acknowledged that the operation was effective mainly against the guerrillas and not against cocaine production, which rose from 160,000 hectares cultivated in 1999 to 212,000 in 2019… similar to what happened with opium and heroin production from poppies in Afghanistan (the Talibans are really bad, eh!):

From Statista, with my annotations in blue.

Another emblematic case is journalist Gary Webb's Dark Alliance investigation, published in 1996, which documented how the CIA had tolerated cocaine trafficking for over a decade, run by Danilo Blandón, linked to the Nicaraguan Contras, and drug dealer “Freeway” Ricky Ross, who became the “crack king” in Los Angeles. The proceeds from this trade were allegedly used to finance the anti-Sandinista guerrilla movement in Nicaragua. Webb, a two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, was found dead in 2005 with two gunshot wounds to the face, in a case officially ruled a suicide. More recently, an investigation by the newspaper El Universal revealed that between 2000 and 2012, the DEA maintained an agreement with the Sinaloa Cartel, allowing its activities to continue undisturbed in exchange for information on rival cartels. US agents allegedly met with Sinaloa leaders on several occasions, violated bilateral agreements without informing the Mexican government, and built a network of informants within the criminal organization.

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From Statista.

Getting back to the present… the upcoming Venezuelan “anti-drug” operation hides much more ambitious geopolitical objectives.

The government of Nicolás Maduro maintains military, technological, and intelligence ties with Russia, China, and Iran, and Washington has long sought to reduce the influence of these rival powers in its Caribbean “near abroad” through military deterrence, economic coercion, and multilateral diplomatic pressure.

Finally, Venezuela has the largest oil reserves in the world (according to multiple sources, e.g. Statista and WordAtlas), and this factor alone would be sufficient for US foreign policy to label it a rogue state, like Iran, which has the 3rd largest oil reserves (according to WordAtlas), after Saudi Arabia, which at the moment is sitting on the fence between the West and the Rest (of the World, led by BRICS+¹)!

In any case, Venezuelan President Maduro did not back down and, instead, he responded to the recent US escalation with an unprecedented mobilization and call to arms, stating:

The empire has gone mad and has renewed its threats to Venezuela's peace and tranquility.

Venezuela will defend its seas, its skies, and its land in the face of the strange and unprecedented threat posed by a declining empire.

This week I’m launching a special plan to ensure coverage by more than 4.5 million prepared, activated, and armed militia members across the national territory.

…and calling the US threats “extravagant, bizarre and outlandish”.

The Venezuelan government also introduced extraordinary measures, including a 30-day ban on drone flights throughout the country and the deployment of Venezuelan naval forces in the Caribbean Sea.

Has Trump decided to wage war against Maduro’s Venezuela, since he is losing against Russia in Ukraine and he lost against Yemen and Iran? Will we see a war in Caribbean soon? Time will tell, but this huge military deployment does not bode well! Of course, I will keep you posted.

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1. By the way, Venezuela wanted to join BRICS+, but Brazil vetoed its accession last year.