According to NBC Newsalthough these selective actions still do not have the final approval of the president Donald Trumpit is estimated that they could start in a matter of weeks.
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The American media assured that he interviewed four nearby sources with the planning of the attacks, including two government officials.
The Uss Iwo Jima multipurpose amphibious assault ship (LHD 7) leads a transit ship formation through the Atlantic Ocean. (Photo of the United States Navy by the mass communication specialist Jason R. Zalasky/ Archive).
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Two of these sources stated that the military escalation of USA In the Caribbean it is partially due to the fact that the president Nicolás Maduro has not done enough to stop the drug flow that leaves his country.
The four sources confirmed to NBC News that The plans that are being discussed are mainly on drone attacks against members and leaders of drug trafficking groups, as well as bombing to drug laboratories.
The United States accuses Maduro of leading the Los Soles Cartelcriminal organization allegedly formed by high military and political commanders of Venezuela. For the capture of the Chavista president offers a reward of 50 million dollars.
The United States offers 50 million dollars for the capture of Nicolás Maduro. (State Department).
In addition, the administration Trump He maintains that he Los Soles Cartel is responsible for flooding USA of cocaine and Fentanyl.
Yes ok Venezuela It is not cocaine producer, the United States accuses Ripe and al Los Soles Cartel to allow free passage through its drug territory produced in Colombia.
As for the Fentanylthe accusation would be for its alleged alliance of the Los Soles Cartel with the Sinaloa Cartel, one of the mafias that leads methamphetamine traffic to the United States.
When NBC asked the White House for his version about what his sources told him, he sent him an earlier statement from Trump: “We will see what happens. Venezuela He is sending us to his gang members, his drug traffickers and his drugs. It is unacceptable. ”
The government of Trump He said that the fleet deployed in the Caribbean Sea and in Puerto Rico, composed of destroyers, amphibious transport ships, a nuclear propulsion submarine, latest generation combat planes F-35 and thousands of military, military, He has destroyed four narcolanchas that supposedly departed from Venezuela with drugs on board.
A “narcoterrorist” boat from Venezuela was destroyed by the United States armed forces in the Caribbean waters, on September 2, 2025. (Video capture).
NBC News remarked that some administration officials Trump They are disappointed because The United States military escalation does not seem to have weakened the control it exercises Maduro in Venezuelanor generated a significant response.
Therefore, now the administration carefully analyzes the next steps to take, said an official familiar with planning.
Planning includes, according to NBC News, conversations between the United States and Venezuela through leaders of the Middle East who act as intermediaries.
A senior Trump administration official said Maduro has spoken with these intermediaries about the concessions he would be willing to do to stay in power. The senior official did not specify which countries act as intermediaries.
The consequences of a selective attack in Venezuela
A man holds a photo of Nicolás Maduro during a military deployment in his support on Bolívar Avenue in Caracas on September 23, 2025. (Photo by Federico Parra / AFP).
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For Luis Toty Medinapolitical consultant and founder of the Venezuelan Association of Political Consultants, The military deployment of the United States near Venezuela is too large to be a simple anti -narcotics operation, but insufficient for a large -scale invasion. Therefore, it considers that it is a force capable of executing Selective and surgical attacks against objectives within the Venezuelan territory.
Medina told Commerce that Venezuela lacks logistics, armed and terrestrial defense capacity to sustain prolonged confrontation with the United Stateswhich would limit your military response to a possible selective attack.
“Given that scenario, Ripe It would probably resort to an epic of heroicity through a victimization speech, closed the country, Intensify internal repression, I would even accuse internal enemies of being collaborators of the aggression of a foreign power, and would appeal to the national unity, although with little popular support, ” Medina predicted.
As for whether a selective attack in Venezuela I would do implosing To the Chavista regime or strengthened it, Medina said it would strengthen it because Ripe It would redouble the speech of national unity and patrioterism that usually proclaim. But he noted that there is a factor that could decide Maduro’s fate: the armed force.
“I do not know if Maduro’s only support, the armed force, ends up turning his back on a selective attack from the United States. I consider that an eventual selective attack would not immediately collapse the government, but it would open the possibility of negotiations with the military, who would ultimately decide the future of Maduro and the regime itself,” He emphasized.
Members of the Bolivarian militia participate in a military deployment in support of Nicolás Maduro on Bolívar Avenue in Caracas on September 23, 2025. (Photo by Federico Parra / AFP).
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Luis Peche ArteagaVenezuelan political and internationalist consultant, he told Commerce that Chavismo has cost a lot to elaborate a narrative with respect to the climbing of the United States in the Caribbean. He recalled that the regime’s first response was to say that the video of the first attack against a boat was prepared with artificial intelligence. Then they have moved to victimization.
“However, in the internal level I think Chavismo plays in a very delicate balance Between manifesting its weakness in a very evident way to a much higher army like that of the United States, and also in parallel show fear. There are already means that indicate that Chavismo has accused this blow, does not know how to react, are looking to establish diplomatic channels with Trump anyway“Peche said.
“A selective attack can lead to implosion in Chavismobecause in a country where Edmundo González Urrutia won the presidential elections overwhelmingly against Maduro, it seems unbelievable that there are many people willing to give life for Chavismo in a war confrontation with the United States. The regime tries to exhaust all diplomatic options because it knows that at an escalation it has absolutely nothing to do ”, He emphasized Peche.
Armed civilians participate in a military deployment in support of Nicolás Maduro in Caracas. (Photo of Federico Parra / AFP).
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Andrés Gómez de la Torrespecialist in defense and intelligence issues, he remarked that From his first government Trump has argued that all options are open with respect to Venezuela. “This not only implies diplomatic measures, but also coercive such as the use of force to resolve the internal situation of Venezuela”.
“The United States has already carried out surgical operations with drones against specific targetsas the case of General Iraní Qasem Soleimani, for example ”, Gómez de la Torre said.
Indeed, Soleimani was killed by order of Trump on January 3, 2020 in an attack in Baghdad. Missiles AGM-114 Hellfire fired from a DRON MQ-9 Reaper They ended their life.
A MQ-9 DRON REPER takes off on March 13, 2009 from the Kandahar Air Base, Afghanistan, for a mission of support for the lasting freedom operation. (AFP).
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“If the drone site is confirmed MQ-9 reaper, So we would be talking that the United States prepares specific surgical operations against human objectives and facilities within Venezuela ”, Gómez de la Torre sentenced.
