Maduro orders elite forces to full alert amid US presence in Caribbean

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has called on the nation’s elite military units to maintain full combat readiness, citing the risk of a potential U.S. military intervention. Regional tensions are escalating rapidly, prompting several international airlines to suspend flights to Caracas over safety concerns.

During a military parade in the capital, Maduro addressed members of the Bolivarian elite units, urging them to be prepared “to defend the Homeland and peace” in response to the “threat posed by the American armed forces present in the Caribbean Sea,” according to RMF24. These units were established in honour of Simón Bolívar, the symbol of South American nations’ struggle for independence.

The heightened tensions between Venezuela and the United States have led carriers from the U.S., Spain, Colombia, and Türkiye to temporarily halt flights to Caracas, citing safety risks and uncertainty in the region. At present, only aircraft from select Latin American airlines are landing at Venezuela’s capital airport.

The strain in the region stems in part from America’s substantial military presence in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific, which includes its flagship aircraft carrier and thousands of troops. The U.S. has released videos of boats being destroyed, but has not provided supporting evidence, such as photographs of seized drugs, to substantiate smuggling claims.

Controversy surrounds a September 2 incident in which 11 people were killed in a U.S. strike, followed by a second strike targeting the same boat after two survivors were left in the water. U.S. media reported that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had allegedly ordered that everyone on board be killed. Questions arose regarding the legality of the follow-up strike if the survivors posed no threat.

Hegseth dismissed these reports as “fake news,” insisting that all operations comply with U.S. and international law. He stated, “Every trafficker we kill is affiliated with a Designated Terrorist Organization,” in a post on X. President Trump said on Sunday that he would not have approved a second strike and claimed Hegseth had denied issuing such an order.

U.S. spokesperson Karoline Leavitt confirmed on December 1 that the boat had been hit in a second strike but denied that Hegseth directly ordered it. Instead, she said he had authorised U.S. Navy Vice Admiral Frank Bradley to carry out the attack, which was “well within his authority and the law, ensuring the boat was destroyed, and the threat to the U.S. was eliminated.”

As the U.S. weighs its next actions, Trump revealed on November 30 that he had spoken with President Maduro by phone, describing the conversation as neither “well or badly.” In recent statements, Trump also suggested that Venezuela’s airspace should be considered closed, a claim that Caracas condemned as a “colonial threat” and “illegal and unjustified aggression.”

By Tamilla Hasanova