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US DEPLOYS WARSHIPS TO VENEZUELAN COAST  
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Stephen Prager
August 21, 2025
Common Dreams
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_ "These aggressive policies seek to extend US dominance in Latin
America, no matter the human cost," CodePink said. _

A t-shirt depicting US President Donald Trump that reads 'Hands off
Venezuela' is seen while supporters of Venezuela's President Nicolas
Maduro take part in a protest against the reward imposed by the US
President, in Caracas on August 11, 2025., Juan Barreto/AFP

 

The White House's announcement Wednesday that it had deployed three
warships to the coast of Venezuela has raised fears among antiwar and
human rights advocates of the US becoming embroiled in another
potential "regime change" quagmire.

In recent weeks, the Trump administration has accused
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Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of being one of the world's
largest traffickers of illegal narcotics and of leading the cocaine
trafficking gang Cartel de los Soles.

In 2020, Maduro was charged with narco-terrorism and conspiracy to
import cocaine into the US, with the first Trump administration
promising a $15 million reward for his arrest. The Biden
administration increased that bounty to $25 million before Trump,
earlier this month, doubled it to $50 million.

Trump also expanded the litany of accusations against Maduro, alleging
that he is the kingpin of Mexico's Sinaloa cartel, an allegation that
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum says
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there is no evidence to support.

Even before Maduro's indictment, however, Trump had long sought to
oust him from power. During his first term, he repeatedly suggested
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that the US should invade Venezuela to take Maduro out—an idea that
his top aides rebuffed.

Trump instead dramatically escalated sanctions
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on Venezuela, which many studies have shown contributed to the
nation's historic economic crisis. His former Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo explicitly acknowledged that the goal of these sanctions was to
push the Venezuelan people to topple Maduro.

In 2023, following his first presidency, Trump lamented
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at a rally that the US had to purchase oil from Venezuela, saying that
if he were in charge, "We would have taken over; we would have gotten
to all that oil; it would have been right next door."

The exact objective of Trump's destroyers, which are expected to
arrive on the Venezuelan coast as soon as Sunday, remains unclear. But
the Venezuelan government and others in the region have perceived
Trump's threats as a serious provocation.

On Monday, Maduro said he would mobilize
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4.5 million militia members following what he called "the renewal of
extravagant, bizarre, and outlandish threats" from Trump. After the
announcement of approaching warships, those militias began to be
deployed throughout the country.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro issued a harsh warning to Trump
following the news.

"The gringos are mad if they think invading Venezuela will solve their
problem," he said
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"They are dragging Venezuela into a Syria-like situation, with the
problem that they are dragging Colombia too."

The American antiwar group CodePink
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ships as a "reckless escalation" that "dangerously militarizes the
Caribbean and brings our region closer to war."

The group argues that Venezuela's role in drug trafficking is being
overblown to justify an invasion. They note that the US's own internal
assessments
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of global drug trafficking have not identified Venezuela as a primary
transit country. They also cite the UN's latest World Drug Report
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which did not find Venezuela to be a central node of the drug trade.

The Washington Office on Latin America, a DC-based human rights group,
has warned
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that a regime change war would likely be a catastrophe on par with the
invasion of Iraq two decades prior.

"The 'victorious' US military would likely find itself governing an
impoverished country with broken institutions, trying to hand over
power to an opposition weakened by repression and exile, and probably
facing an insurgency made up of regime diehards, criminal groups, and
even Colombian guerrillas," they said. "There is no evidence that this
approach would lead to a democratic transition in Venezuela."

"These aggressive policies seek to extend US dominance in Latin
America, no matter the human cost," CodePink said. "The people of
Venezuela, like the people of the United States, deserve peace,
dignity, and sovereignty, not threats, blockades, and warships."

The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever
seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to
Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining
up to stuff cash in his pockets.

THAT'S WHY I BELIEVE THAT COMMON DREAMS IS DOING THE BEST AND MOST
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