The United States has escalated its standoff with Venezuela, deploying three naval destroyers to the Caribbean in what Washington calls a renewed push against drug cartels. Officials say the mission aims to disrupt narcotics flows into American cities, but the move also underscores the White House’s refusal to recognise Nicolás Maduro as Venezuela’s legitimate president.
Relations between the two nations have long been strained, but under Donald Trump they reached a new level of confrontation. His administration imposed sweeping sanctions, backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó, and accused Maduro of running what U.S. prosecutors described as a “narco-terrorist” network. Federal indictments and asset seizures followed, while Caracas responded with accusations of imperial aggression and calls for resistance.
The latest deployment deepens this cycle of hostility. While U.S. forces present the operation as counter-narcotics, Venezuela has mobilised its militias and insists foreign troops will never dictate its future. For Washington, the move signals both resolve and reach, but for Caracas it reinforces the narrative of sovereignty under siege.
In this edition of NewsHour, Guy Shone examines the history of U.S.–Venezuela relations, the political stakes of the naval presence, and what might lie ahead for one of the hemisphere’s most fraught rivalries.
The United States killed four people in a strike against a vessel allegedly carrying illegal drugs just off the coast of Venezuela, U.S. Defence Secre...
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Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas which took part in the 7 October, 2023 attack on Israel, endorsed on Saturday the group's response to the ...
U.S. President Donald Trump has called for Israel to halt its bombing of Gaza after Hamas said it was ready to release hostages and agreed to some asp...
Israel struck Gaza on Saturday, local authorities said, after U.S. President Donald Trump had called for a halt to the bombing and said Hamas is ready...
The United States killed four people in a strike against a vessel allegedly carrying illegal drugs just off the coast of Venezuela, U.S. Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Friday, at least the fourth such attack in recent weeks.
Thirty-six Turkish nationals aboard vessels from the Global Sumud Flotilla, which was seized by Israeli forces, are expected to return to Türkiye on a special flight on Saturday afternoon, the Turkish foreign ministry said.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad, an ally of Hamas which took part in the 7 October, 2023 attack on Israel, endorsed on Saturday the group's response to the U.S. plan to end the war in Gaza.
U.S. President Donald Trump has called for Israel to halt its bombing of Gaza after Hamas said it was ready to release hostages and agreed to some aspects of the U.S. president's plan to end the war, although Israeli strikes still killed several people on Saturday.
Video from the USGS (United States Geological Survey) showed on Friday (19 September) the Kilauea volcano in Hawaii erupting and spewing lava.
At least eight people have died and more than 90 others were injured following a catastrophic gas tanker explosion on a major highway in Mexico City’s Iztapalapa district on Wednesday, authorities confirmed.
At least 69 people have died and almost 150 injured following a powerful 6.9-magnitude earthquake off the coast of Cebu City in the central Visayas region of the Philippines, officials said, making it one of the country’s deadliest disasters this year.
A powerful 7.4-magnitude earthquake struck off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula on 13 September with no tsunami threat, coming just weeks after the region endured a devastating 8.8-magnitude quake — the strongest since 1952.
Authorities in California have identified the dismembered body discovered in a Tesla registered to singer D4vd as 15-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez, who had been missing from Lake Elsinore since April 2024.
China is preparing to host the largest Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in its history, with more than 20 heads of state set to gather in Tianjin from 31 August to 1 September.
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