Bloomberg: US military operations in Caribbean cost $2.9 billion amid Maduro raid

The U.S. military’s operations in the Caribbean, including the high-profile capture of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, have cost American taxpayers $2.9 billion, according to Bloomberg calculations.

The raid, conducted early this year, involved roughly 60 U.S. special forces troops who descended by helicopter into Caracas, confronted security guards, and extracted Maduro and Flores before airlifting them to a U.S. warship 100 miles off the coast. The Trump administration described the operation as “concise and deliberate,” completed in a matter of hours at minimal cost.

However, the broader military posture in the region has driven costs far higher. Dozens of U.S. Navy ships, fighter jets, drones, and logistics vessels were deployed around Latin America beginning late last summer under a buildup called Operation Southern Spear. At its peak from mid-November to mid-January, the daily operational cost of the ships alone reached more than $20 million.

“There is no contingency fund in the DOD budget for unexpected operations,” said Mark Cancian of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. “Conflicts cost extra.”

Former Pentagon comptroller Elaine McCusker, now a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, said the operations around Venezuela, including Operation Absolute Resolve, have “probably cost about $2 billion since August 2025.”

She noted that this estimate focuses on incremental costs of operating ships, aircraft, and remotely piloted platforms, as well as replacing likely ordnance used, but does not include intelligence, cyber support, or operational rehearsals.

At its height, the U.S. deployment represented about 20% of the Navy’s surface fleet, tying up key assets while crises unfolded elsewhere in the world.

While the White House maintains that the operations did not require extra taxpayer funding because the forces were already deployed, analysts say the full financial and operational burden is far from negligible.

By Sabina Mammadli