US launches military strikes against Venezuela as Trump steps up pressure on Maduro regime, sources say

Explosions and low-flying planes were reported overnight in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, early Saturday morning, according to the Associated Press.

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President Trump ordered strikes on sites in Venezuela early Saturday morning, including military installations, U.S. officials told CBS News.

President Trump has not commented on whether the goal of his military buildup was to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. He told reporters on December 22 it would be “intelligent” for Maduro to leave power, but it is “up to him to decide what he wants to do”.

White House chief of staff Susie Wiles was more direct about the president’s intentions, telling Vanity Fair in November: “He wants to keep blowing up boats until Maduro shouts uncle.”

Mr. Trump said in mid-December that Venezuela was “completely surrounded by the largest armada ever assembled in the history of South America.”

“It will only get worse, and the shock they will experience will be like nothing they have ever seen before – until they return to the United States of America all the oil, land and other assets they previously stole from us,” he posted on Truth Social on December 16.

Since the beginning of September, the US military has carried out more than 30 strikes on suspected drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, killing more than 110 people. THE first of these attackson September 2, sparked further controversy when it emerged that the military had launched a follow-up strike after spotting two survivors. Critics in Congress have called for an investigation into whether this constitutes a war crime.

Then on December 10, the United States seized an oil tanker called The Skipper off the coast of Venezuela. The mission was launched from USS Gerald R. Fordan aircraft carrier that has been in the region for weeks as part of a broader buildup of U.S. forces in the region, sources told CBS News.

Attorney General Pam Bondi issued a 45-second video of the operation on X, showing armed personnel descending onto the ship’s deck from a helicopter. She said the United States had executed a seizure warrant against the vessel and that it was “used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran.”

Less than a week later, President Trump announcement a “total and complete blockade” of sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela. The United States later seized a second tanker off the coast of Venezuela on December 20 and later pursued a third tanker who refused to be boarded and fled.

In what could be the first known ground strike of the campaign, Mr. Trump said at the end of December the United States “destroyed” a “major facility” allegedly linked to drug trafficking. He described the target as “a dock area where they load the boats with drugs,” but he did not specify its location or give many additional details.

The Venezuelan government has criticized the operations at sea, calling the tanker seizures acts of “piracy” and accusing the Trump administration of seeking regime change.

The United States has claimed that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is complicit with armed criminal gangs that smuggle drugs into the United States – allegations that Maduro has denied.

The Trump administration has officially designated two groups as international terrorist organizations that it says are linked to the Maduro regime: the Cartel of the Suns and the band Araguay Trainaccused of international drug trafficking and violent attacks.

Some experts have questioned these designations. Analysts say the Cartel de los Soles is not a single organizationbut rather refers to elements within the Venezuelan government accused of collusion with drug cartels.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said in May on CBS News’ “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that the administration believed Tren de Aragua was being used as a tool by the regime, contradicting an assessment by the National Intelligence Council.

“There is no doubt in our mind, in my mind and in the FBI’s assessment, that this is a group that the Venezuelan regime is using, not only to try to destabilize the United States, but also to project its power,” he added. Rubio said.

Maduro and several of his top lieutenants were charge in US federal court in 2020 on charges of narcoterrorism and drug trafficking, which he denied. “Maduro deliberately used cocaine as a weapon” to harm the United States, prosecutors alleged.

Over the summer, the Trump administration doubled the reward for Maduro’s arrest at $50 million.

In recent months, the United States has increased pressure on the Maduro regime in Venezuela in multiple ways, including through a vast military buildup in the region, live fire exercises And deadly strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific.

There are currently around 15,000 US troops in the region. Some 11 warships were in the Caribbean Sea as of Dec. 30, Navy officials told CBS News, including the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s most advanced aircraft carrier.

The U.S. naval deployment in the Caribbean also includes five guided-missile destroyers, two guided-missile cruisers, an amphibious assault ship and two amphibious transport ships, officials said.

There are also several dozen American combat aircraft stationed in Puerto Rico. And this month, the United States moved planes designed to transport special forces, including CV-22 Osprey and C-17 cargo planes, into the region, a source familiar with the matter told CBS News.