On September 13, 2023, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Maduro held historic talks in Beijing at the Great Hall of the People (Photo: Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China via Twitter)
This week, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs formally expressed its opposition to US military operations in the Caribbean, following an attack on October 15 that left six people dead on Venezuelan vessels. Spokesperson Lin Jian stated that Beijing “opposes the use or threat of force in international relations” and rejects external interference in Venezuela’s internal affairs.
In response to questions from reporters, Lin Jian criticized Washington’s unilateral actions, which mobilized warships and a nuclear submarine in the region under the pretext of combating drug cartels. The October 15 attack brings the total number of deaths in five recent US military actions against Venezuelan vessels to 27.
China also expressed support for the declaration by 33 Latin American countries on the establishment of a nuclear-weapon-free zone on the continent.
China supports strengthening international cooperation to combat transnational crimes and opposes unilateral law enforcement actions by the United States against vessels from other countries that exceed reasonable and necessary limits,” said the Chinese spokesman.
Venezuelan diplomatic mobilization
This week, the Venezuelan Embassy in Beijing also summoned diplomatic representatives from various countries and international media outlets to denounce what it classifies as a risk of military invasion. Ambassador Remigio Ceballos Ichaso told Brasil de Fato that Washington is conducting “a disinformation campaign aimed at justifying an intervention.”
“Accusing Venezuela of being a drug cartel is completely false, a fiction that they have been trying to impose on the international community for decades,” said Ceballos Ichaso.
The Venezuelan government has received expressions of solidarity from Nicaragua, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, and Mexico. Humberto Collado, commercial attaché at the Nicaraguan embassy in China, said that “what the US is doing is threatening a democratic country, its president, and its entire people, undermining the socio-political stability of the region.”
Russian and UN position
Russia criticized US military actions through statements by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Russian ambassador to the United Nations, Vasily Nebenzia, stating that such operations “represent an escalation in the region, violate international law and Venezuelan sovereignty.”
The World Drug Report 2025 from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) recognizes Venezuela’s efforts to combat drug trafficking and points out that the country is not among the main international drug corridors. The UN has emphasized that any military or coercive intervention that violates the sovereignty of a member state is contrary to the United Nations Charter.
US sanctions against Venezuela began in 2006, during Hugo Chávez’s administration, intensifying after 2013 with Nicolás Maduro, totaling about a thousand restrictive measures by 2019. These measures resulted in food and medicine shortages, restrictions on access to essential resources, and impacts on the Venezuelan economy.
Internal mobilization
President Nicolás Maduro ordered national defense military exercises with the participation of Bolivarian militias and volunteers, including fishermen and rural residents. The government characterized the mobilization as defensive and voluntary, aimed at ensuring national sovereignty.
In a letter to UN Secretary-General António Guterres, Maduro reiterated Venezuela’s commitment to peace and international law. Foreign Minister Samuel Moncada stated that “the real threat to regional peace is the presence of US military and nuclear weapons in the Caribbean.”
This article was translated from an article originally published in Portuguese on Brasil de Fato.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Despite a declassified US intelligence report finding no link between Venezuela’s government and the Tren de Aragua gang, Trump’s campaign of airstrikes in the Caribbean has killed 27 people thus far
US President Trump carried out yet another lethal strike off the Venezuelan coast on October 14, killing six people. In a social media post, Trump claimed the six men killed above the ship were “narcoterrorists,” without providing any evidence.
This latest airstrike is the fifth of its kind, with world leaders and international activists condemning the Trump policy as a violation of human rights. The death toll of Trump’s strikes against small boats in the Caribbean Sea now stands at 27.
The airstrikes represent the latest escalation of a tense relationship between the United States and Venezuela. Last week, Trump ordered the termination of diplomacy with Venezuela. Richard Grenell, special presidential envoy, was directed by Trump to halt all diplomatic outreach and talks with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
On Tuesday, October 14, Trump once again repeated allegations that the Venezuelan government is responsible for introducing gangs into the US. “What they do very well is they send their criminals into the United States, and they send Tren de Aragua.”
The Trump administration has pushed the narrative that Venezuela is a leader in drug trafficking through the groups “Tren de Aragua”, now designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO) by the Trump administration, and “Cartel de los Soles” as a way to push escalation in the Caribbean Sea and justify Trump’s draconian immigration policies, including justifying massive ICE raids and the illegal deportation of 250 Venezuelans to El Salvador earlier this year.
A declassified assessment from the US National Intelligence Council, released in early May 2025, that the Venezuela’s government “probably does not have a policy of cooperating with TDA and is not directing TDA movement to and operations in the United States.”
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
US President Donald Trump speaking at the State of the Union in March 2025. Photo: POTUS / X
After killing 21 people in a series of airstrikes on boats off the coast of Venezuela, the US closes all diplomatic channels and prepares for further military aggression in the region.
On October 6, US President Donald Trump ordered the termination of diplomacy with Venezuela. Richard Grenell, special presidential envoy, was directed by Trump to halt all diplomatic outreach and talks with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The move follows multiple US missile strikes on boats in the Caribbean Sea. Washington claims the operations target drug traffickers, but regional leaders and legal experts say they are escalating into an undeclared war against Venezuela.
Caracas calls for diplomacy, US abandons it for war
Grenell had previously been the primary negotiator between the two governments and was involved in US-Venezuela policy decisions in general.
Back in September, President Maduro sent a letter directly to Trump, calling for diplomacy and refuting the drug-trafficking accusations the White House has levied. He pointed out how crucial Grenell’s work had been in overcoming false reports and misunderstandings that had emerged around deportation flights from the US.
“This issue was swiftly resolved and clarified during discussions with Mr. Richard Grenell. This channel has functioned flawlessly to date,” the letter stated.
Maduro cited UN data demonstrating the country’s “impeccable record in the fight against international drug trafficking”.
“This and other matters will always be open for direct and frank discussion with your special envoy Grenell, so that we can overcome media noise and fake news.”
Weeks later, Grenell’s communication with Caracas was ceased completely by President Trump.
Washington’s total diplomatic disengagement suggests that hardliners like Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who have openly called for regime change in Venezuela, are now freely leading a more aggressive, militaristic approach toward the most oil-rich nation on earth.
The US military has now carried out airstrikes on at least four small boats in the Caribbean, raising the reported death toll of Washington’s current military aggression in the region to 21. Officials say the campaign aims to combat alleged drug trafficking but have provided no evidence for the claim.
Airstrikes began on September 2, when 11 people – later identified as fishermen – were killed in a missile strike on the first targeted ship off the coast of Venezuela.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro recently announced that the fourth bombed boat was a Colombian vessel, accusing Trump of opening a “war scenario” in the region.
“This is no war against smuggling,” Petro said. “It is a war against oil and it must be stopped by the world.”
The Trump administration has denied Petro’s allegation that the vessel was Colombian, however, an anonymous US official confirmed to the New York Times that Colombian citizens were on board.
The uncharged, untried, and largely unidentified victims of the last month of US aggression are accused of being narcotraffickers by the Trump administration.
The US has deployed at least eight warships, a nuclear-powered attack submarine, several P-8 surveillance planes, and 4,000 military personnel to the waters of the Caribbean, as well as F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico.
The scale and level of aggression, combined with the lack of evidence for drug trafficking accusations, has raised questions about Washington’s true intentions with Venezuela. Sources inside the Trump administration told NBC News in September, “The goal is to force Maduro to make rash decisions that could ultimately lead to his ouster – without American boots on the ground.”
US is waging an “armed conflict” against “unlawful combatants”, declares Trump
Legal experts, US lawmakers, and anti-war groups have asserted that military force in international waters is illegal, violating both international and US law, bypassing due process and law enforcement norms, and lacking any clear justification.
In an apparent attempt to provide some legal basis for the hostilities, President Trump sent a report to Congress last week declaring that the US military is engaged in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels and has killed “unlawful combatants” in the Caribbean.
The president has “designated [cartels] as terrorist organizations, and determined that their actions constitute an armed attack against the United States,” Earl Matthews, the Pentagon’s general counsel told lawmakers, as reported by CNN.
The report sent to Congress is required by law (Section 1543a United States Code) whenever US military forces are engaged in hostilities, but it doesn’t automatically grant or expand the legal basis for a military campaign.
However, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth already cited the recent “legal justification” by President Trump when pressed on Sunday about the most recent airstrike at sea. “We have every authorization needed,” Hegseth told Fox News. “These [cartels] are designated as foreign terrorist organizations.”
Although some senators have questioned “the legal rationale, the mission itself, and the intel surrounding the strikes”, a war powers bill that would have limited Trump’s power, halting further airstrikes on boats without authorization from Congress, was voted down on Thursday, October 9.
The White House insists that its “armed conflict” is legal and constitutional. Yet experts and critics say Trump is waging a secret war against undefined enemies, without fully informing Congress or the people of the US – who overwhelmingly reject US intervention in Venezuela. Polls show that only 16% of Americans would support a US invasion of the country.
Threats of land strikes
Despite widespread opposition, President Trump has openly threatened a direct US attack on Venezuela. During an event on October 5 at Naval Station Norfolk in Virginia, he praised the Navy for how successful the missile strikes on alleged drug boats have been.
“We’ll have to start looking about the land because they’ll be forced to go by land,” he said.
The threat came days after NBC News reported that US military officials had in fact already drawn up plans for drone strikes within Venezuelan territory.
Venezuela belongs to Venezuelans, declares Maduro
Caracas has attempted to open dialogue with special envoy Richard Grenell, President Trump himself, and now the UN Security Council. Amid its diplomatic efforts, the country has also made massive efforts to increase its security and defense capabilities.
On October 6, Maduro announced that Venezuelan security forces had foiled a “false flag” plot by local extremists to bomb the US embassy in Caracas, in an apparent attempt to justify US military provocation. Maduro assured that his administration would reinforce security measures to protect the embassy “despite all the differences we have had with the governments of the United States.”
As soon as the US military deployment was announced by Marco Rubio in August, Venezuela mobilized its 4.5 million members of the Bolivarian National Militia. However, after enlistment campaigns calling on the Venezuelan people to defend the country’s sovereignty against US aggression, 8 million people signed up to join the militia, raising the total size of the force to over 12 million civilian combatants, according to the government. The country has conducted advanced training across the entire territory and the Caribbean Sea to consolidate its defense forces and prepare for any US attack.
“What they want is war in the Caribbean and South America. For a regime change to impose a puppet government and steal the oil, gas, and gold,” the president of the Bolivarian Republic proclaimed during the inauguration of a massive hospital in Caracas.
“But we have news for the North American empire,” he continued. “That oil, that gas, that gold, this land, and this people will continue to belong to Venezuelans. And we will never allow our homeland to be violated or touched. Never!”
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an obviously insane, xenophobic Fascist.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth (R) looks on as US President Donald Trump speaks during a Cabinet meeting at the White House on April 30, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
NBC reported Friday that the US military is considering options including drone strikes against drug cartel members within the South American country, prompting fears of escalation.
The Trump administration may strike alleged drug targets inside Venezuela’s borders within weeks, sources familiar with the situation toldNBC News on Friday.
Two US officials and two other sources with knowledge of the conversations that had taken place said that the US military was considering plans that could include drone strikes against members and leaders of drug trafficking groups as well as drug laboratories. If approved, the strikes would be a further escalation following three Trump administration attacks on alleged drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean that have killed at least 17 people, even though the administration has provided no evidence that those killed were actually smuggling drugs.
“More mass murder on the cards?” the news outlet Venezeulanaysiswrote in response. “NBC reports that the Trump administration is weighing strikes against ‘drug targets’ (emphasis on the air quotes) inside Venezuelan territory. Lots of speculation and anonymous sources, but it shows that no war crimes are off limits.”
US President Donald Trump has already come under heavy criticism for authorizing boat strikes that many decry as illegal. Democratic lawmakers have moved to bar the president from authorizing further attacks, and Colombian President Gustavo Petro called for the United Nations to take criminal proceedings against the US president in a speech on Tuesday.
“This is the most egregious instance of disinformation against our nation, intended to justify an escalation to armed conflict that would inflict catastrophic damage across the entire continent.”
Now, observers are responding with alarm to the news that the administration might go even further.
El Pais correspondent Juan Diego Quesada wrote on social media that strikes within Venezuelan territory “would escalate the conflict to a level whose consequences I dare not measure.”
“How would this not be considered an act of war?” asked poster Cindy Gossett. “Trump can’t just claim Venezuelan citizens are drug lords therefore he’s going to fly a drone over and destroy them. If Venezuela did the same in our country it wouldn’t be accepted.”
Speaking at the UN General Assembly on Friday, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto said that the US had an “illegal and completely immoral military threat hanging over our heads.”
Pinto also cast doubt on the notion that the Trump administration’s true aim was to combat the drug trade.
He accused the US of trying to permit “external powers to rob Venezuela’s immeasurable oil and gas wealth” and said that the administration was using “vulgar and perverse lies” to “justify an atrocious, extravagant, and immoral multibillion-dollar military threat.”
Trump has yet to authorize any particular plan, according to NBC. The Pentagon declined to comment on their report, and the White House referred the outlet to a previous statement from Trump: “We’ll see what happens. Venezuela is sending us their gang members, their drug dealers, and drugs. It’s not acceptable.”
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has denied that his administration has not done enough to prevent drug trafficking through the South American country, as Trump has accused.
Maduro sent a letter to the White House on September 6 calling for peace and dialogue and defending his record, noting that, according to a UN report, only 5% of the drugs that leave Colombia do so via Venezuela.
He wrote of the trafficking claims, “This is the most egregious instance of disinformation against our nation, intended to justify an escalation to armed conflict that would inflict catastrophic damage across the entire continent.”
Toward the end of the letter, he appealed to Trump to work with him to reduce tensions.
“President, I hope that together we can defeat the falsehoods that have sullied our relationship, which must be historic and peaceful,” Maduro wrote.
Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.Orcas discuss how Trump was re-elected and him being an insane, xenophobic Fascist.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio meets with US Special Operations Command in April, 2025. Photo: X
The action was announced by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who called the Venezuelan government a “criminal organization”.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed Thursday, August 14, that he is sending troops to the southern Caribbean Sea to carry out military operations in the region. He said the goal is to arrest Latin American drug traffickers and linked one of these groups to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Rubio reinforced, without presenting evidence, the White House narrative that Maduro is the leader of the Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns), an alleged criminal organization. On July 25, the US State Department classified the group as an international terrorist group.
Now, Rubio has stepped up his game, stating that he is sending air and naval troops to control cartels that bring “poison” to the US. He stated that drug trafficking is a threat to US security and again called the Maduro government a “criminal organization”.
“These are groups that are operating with impunity in international waters, simply exporting to the United States poison that is killing, that is destroying communities… The Cartel de los Soles is one of the largest criminal organizations that exist in the hemisphere, which unfortunately has not been given enough attention. It is a cartel that today is indicted in the federal courts of the United States. It is not a government, the Maduro regime is not a government, it is a criminal organization,” Rubio said in a statement.
The Secretary of State did not provide details of the operation, but said the goal is to intercept the flow of drugs in the region.
Venezuelan military personnel interviewed by Brasil de Fato do not believe the United States could launch a military attack against the country. Sectors within the Armed Forces say they have not definitively ruled out any possibility, but understand the dispatch of planes and ships as yet another threat and a show of force by the White House.
Henry Navas Nieves, head of the Master’s program in Military History at the Bolivarian Military University of Venezuela, agrees with this thesis and states that the US learned from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, two conflicts that had a very high political, military, and economic cost for people in the United States.
“Since Obama, a new model of US warfare against expanding countries has emerged. They have abandoned direct armed confrontations and learned that it was possible to overthrow Muammar Gaddafi in Libya without deploying any soldiers. And they apply and replicate this. The use of their own military forces is inconvenient in these cases, and they resort to harassment and unilateral coercive measures,” Nieves told Brasil de Fato.
The military understands that the White House’s logic is based on encouraging conflicts and attacks by paramilitary and far-right groups in Venezuelan territory.
This week, the Venezuelan government announced that it had demobilized a new attempted attack against strategic structures in Venezuela. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said on Tuesday, August 12, that security forces had identified terrorist plans organized by far-right sectors in conjunction with paramilitaries.
According to him, explosives were seized that had the capacity to hit targets at a distance of up to 1.2 kilometers and were intended to be used to attack hospitals, gas stations, and political figures.
One of the targets was Venezuela Plaza in downtown Caracas. According to Cabello, the group intended to blow up the Monument to the Victory of the Great Patriotic War against Nazism, a memorial to the Soviet Union, which was inaugurated in the first half of this year.
Navas claims that these new US military threats are “inexplicable” because they are based on an unfounded accusation: that Maduro leads a criminal organization.
“The Venezuelan government has actually dealt a severe blow to drug trafficking. These aggressive measures also respond to Venezuelan police operations against the far right, which attempted to organize terrorist attacks, something that was denounced and dismantled by security forces, in addition to the tons of explosives seized,” he stated.
Escalation in threats
Since the July 27 municipal elections, the US has increased its attacks on the Venezuelan government. In an interview with Fox News, US Attorney General Pamela Bondi said that more than USD 700 million in Maduro’s assets had been seized. She said that these were “mansions, cars, planes, and jewelry”, but presented no evidence and gave no indication of the location of these assets.
Navas argues that this escalation of threats is the result of a profound crisis the US is experiencing, involving a struggle between different conservative wings. He believes Rubio’s group seeks dominance in the region to regain the “sympathy” of its support base in Florida, where the Latin American far-right living in the US is concentrated.
“There is a mosaic of interests in the US vying for space and seeking to control the White House’s political decisions. Rubio leads one of them, and he is putting pressure on the government to launch an offensive against Venezuela in an attempt to overthrow the government. This is an escalation and a response to the Maduro government’s advance, which has seen significant victories in the recent regional, legislative, and municipal elections,” he said.
Last week, the US announced an increase to USD 50 million (approximately R$270 million) in the reward for information leading to the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro. The message was promptly responded to by the Venezuelan government. Foreign Minister Yván Gil called the announcement “a ridiculous political propaganda operation and a joke.”
Another speaker was Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López. He called this “immoral” and emphasized that criminal groups operating in Venezuela, such as the Aragua Train, have been “completely dismantled”.
Maduro also refuted the accusations and said that the Venezuelan response could be “the beginning of the end of the American empire”. This Thursday, August 14, the president called the US advance a “war of declarations”.
The heightened tension also resonated with the Venezuelan far right. Former extreme-neoliberal congresswoman and opposition figure María Corina Machado thanked the Republican president on Thursday for “pressuring to defeat this criminal organization”.
Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
