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Venezuela has officially deployed nearly 200,000 military personnel in response to the United States’ growing military presence in the Caribbean.
Some shit you should know before you dig in: If you’re unaware, tensions between the United States and Venezuela are heating up. The US Navy has deployed nine warships, including three guided-missile destroyers, along with a nuclear-powered submarine and a fleet of aircraft such as F-35 fighter jets, surveillance planes, and drones. In addition to this, an entire carrier strike group is en route to the region, which will bring the number of US naval assets to over 16. While the Pentagon maintains the buildup is focused on disrupting narcotics smuggling networks, some military analysts argue that the scale and nature of the deployment suggest a broader objective, possibly laying the groundwork for deeper intervention in Venezuela.
What’s going on now: In a notable development, Venezuela’s Defense Ministry has launched what it calls a “massive deployment” of nearly 200,000 military personnel, mobilizing land, air, naval, riverine, and missile forces across the country. Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López said the order came directly from President Nicolás Maduro, who instructed the armed forces to activate the nation’s full military arsenal in response to the growing US presence just off Venezuela’s coast. The operation, underway since early this week, is being framed as a defensive maneuver aimed at reinforcing territorial integrity and preparing for what the government sees as a potential foreign incursion.
Venezuelan officials say the exercises are part of a broader campaign called “Independence Plan 200,” a national defense strategy that integrates conventional military units with the Bolivarian Militia (a civilian-based reserve force established under Hugo Chávez). These drills are being conducted on a large scale throughout the country and are focused on “optimizing command, control, and communications” within Venezuela’s military infrastructure.
Maduro has framed the military buildup as a patriotic act of resistance, accusing the United States of attempting to provoke a conflict as a pretext for intervention. Speaking from a command center in Caracas, he vowed that Venezuela would not bow to foreign threats and insisted that the country’s sovereignty would be defended “by all means necessary.”
