As U.S. warships approach Caribbean waters, Maduro mobilizes 4.5 million militias
(www.miamiherald.com)
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What are the going to do, swim out to the ships, and try to climb aboard them.
Will this the be the next big news event?
Yes!
US destroyers head toward waters off Venezuela as Trump aims to pressure drug cartels View of the U.S.S. Gravely (DDG 107) destroyer, Feb. 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File https://apnews.com/article/trump-venezuela-destroyers-maduro-drug-cartels-e33794ebc24d9031e536d132ce205b4c By MIKE PESOLI, AAMER MADHANI and JORGE RUEDA Updated 7:42 PM EDT, August 19, 2025 Share WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States is deploying three Aegis guided-missile destroyers to the waters off Venezuela as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to combat threats from Latin American drug cartels, according to a U.S. official briefed on the planning.
The USS Gravely, the USS Jason Dunham and the USS Sampson are expected to arrive soon, said the official, who was not authorized to comment and spoke Tuesday on the condition of anonymity.
A Defense Department official confirmed that the military assets have been assigned to the region in support of counter narcotics efforts. The official, who was not authorized to comment about military planning, said the vessels would be deployed “over the course of several months.”
The deployment of U.S. destroyers and personnel comes as Trump has pushed for using the U.S. military to thwart cartels he blames for the flow of fentanyl and other illicit drugs into American communities and for perpetuating violence in some U.S. cities.
Trump has also pressed Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to cooperate more on security than her predecessor, specifically being more aggressive in pursuit of Mexico’s cartels. But she has drawn a clear line when it comes to Mexico’s sovereignty, rejecting suggestions by Trump and others of intervention by the U.S. military.
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The designation is normally reserved for groups like al-Qaida or the Islamic State group that use violence for political ends — not for money-focused crime rings such as the Latin American cartels.
But the Trump administration argues the international connections and operations of the groups — including drug trafficking, migrant smuggling and violent pushes to extend their territory — warrant the designation.
Earlier this month, the Trump government announced it was doubling to $50 million a reward for the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, accusing him of being one of the world’s largest narco-traffickers and working with cartels to flood the U.S. with fentanyl-laced cocaine.
The press office of Venezuela’s government did not respond to a request for comment from the AP on the deployment of the destroyers. But without mentioning the ships, Foreign Minister Yvan Gil in a statement Tuesday characterized the U.S. government’s drug-trafficking accusations against Venezuela.
“Washington’s accusing Venezuela of drug trafficking reveals its lack of credibility and the failure of its policies in the region,” Gil said. “While Washington threatens, Venezuela steadily advances in peace and sovereignty, demonstrating that true effectiveness against crime is achieved by respecting the independence of its peoples. Every aggressive statement confirms the inability of imperialism to subdue a free and sovereign people.”
The statement was followed by the government’s decision to temporarily ban the purchase, sale and operation of drones in Venezuela’s airspace. In 2018, drones armed with explosives detonated near Maduro in an apparent assassination attempt while he was delivering a speech to hundreds of soldiers being broadcast live on television.
On Monday, Maduro said the U.S. had increased its threats against Venezuela and announced the planned deployment of more than 4.5 million militia members around the country. The militias were created by then-President Hugo Chávez to incorporate volunteers who could assist the armed forces in the defense of external and domestic attacks.
“The empire has gone mad and has renewed its threats to Venezuela’s peace and tranquility,” Maduro said at an event in Caracas, without mentioning any specific action.
Maduro was indicted in a New York federal court in 2020, during the first Trump presidency, along with several close allies on federal charges of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. Back then, the U.S. offered a $15 million reward for his arrest.
Large groups of troops make easy targets for ships and planes. Go ahead and cluster up all you want militias.
I wonder if our CIA set Maduro up in the drug business or he went that way on his own...
Madero mobilizes cartel & gang members. 😆
It’d probably end up being a repeat of Iraq if we go in. AirPower will disintegrate the frontline as units melt away. The follow up just mops up the hardliners that didn’t immediately desert.
It would be a disaster to put boots on ground in any SA country. We would just create millions of refugees that we are then obliged to take in to our country.
They have built-in refugees already, as they are destitute and subjugated by socialism.
True. I’m just say In the hypothetical that if we did go Boots on. That’s probably how it’d repeat
Jake Scully found out, then ended up in Pandora, really mean brush there. 🙄😮🤔
Sweet, doing things on our side of the world.