Tensions rise as Maduro warns of U.S. threat

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has accused the U.S. of using a naval deployment in the Caribbean as a threat against his country and an attempt to enforce regime change. He made the remarks on Monday during a rare press conference in Caracas.

The large-scale U.S. military presence in the Southern Caribbean has heightened tensions between Washington and Caracas in recent weeks. While U.S. officials say the deployment targets Latin American drug cartels, the Venezuelan government views it as a pretext for potential intervention.

“They are seeking regime change through military threat,” Maduro told journalists and military officials, adding that Venezuela faces the greatest danger on the continent in the last 100 years.

U.S. President Donald Trump has made cracking down on drug cartels a central aim of his administration. However, Caracas rejects this justification, insisting that the Venezuelan armed forces are “fully prepared.”

In early August, the U.S. doubled the reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest to $50 million, citing allegations of drug trafficking and links to criminal organisations.

According to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime’s 2023 report, most drug shipments to the U.S. travel via the Pacific rather than the Atlantic, with much of the Caribbean route relying on clandestine flights.

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