12.11.2025 14:02
The deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest aircraft carrier in the United States, to the Caribbean has reignited tensions between Washington and Caracas. The Venezuelan government has launched a large-scale military exercise involving 200,000 troops across the country in response to a potential U.S. intervention.
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The arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest aircraft carrier of the United States, in the Caribbean yesterday once again turned attention to Venezuela. While Venezuela prepares for a possible U.S. attack, Washington's deployment of naval and air power near the region's waters, justified by its fight against drug trafficking since August, continues to increase.
As the U.S. military presence in the Caribbean grows, Venezuela has gone on alert against a possible attack scenario.
U.S. SENDS AIRCRAFT CARRIER, VENEZUELA DEPLOYS 200,000 TROOPS
The U.S. has sent the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier to Caribbean waters. In response, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López announced that the Nicolás Maduro government has initiated a new military deployment involving the participation of 200,000 soldiers "for the purpose of defense against imperial threats."
According to Minister López's statements, "mobilization orders have been given for land, air, sea, river, and missile elements, as well as weapons, military units, Bolivarian Militias, civil security bodies, and comprehensive defense commands."
PARLIAMENT TAKES ACTION AGAINST U.S. DEPLOYMENT
The Parliament approved a law to defend the country against the U.S. military deployment. The law, approved under the name "Law on the Comprehensive Defense Command of the Nation," provides for the collection of information to "identify patterns, trends, and potential risks that allow for determining the seriousness and impact of threats to the security of the Nation."
U.S. CONTINUES TO DEPLOY TROOPS TO THE REGION
The Pentagon stated in a related announcement that the arrival of the Navy in the Caribbean occurred after U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth ordered the Aircraft Carrier Strike Group to support "President Donald Trump's directive to dismantle international criminal organizations and combat narcotic terrorism for the purpose of 'defending the homeland.'
According to statements in the American press, in an operation defended by the White House as a campaign against drug trafficking, which was conducted in Caribbean waters and later expanded to the Pacific, 76 people have died and approximately twenty boats have been destroyed by the U.S. to date.
LAVROV DENIES CLAIMS THAT VENEZUELA "REQUESTED HELP"
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stated that Washington's current policy towards Caracas "will not bring anything good" and "will not enhance the prestige of the U.S. in the international arena." Lavrov also denied reports in the international press that Venezuela had requested military assistance from Moscow amid escalating tensions with the U.S.
The Russian Foreign Minister reminded that in May, the two countries "signed a strategic partnership agreement that is in the final stages of the approval process and has not yet come into effect." However, Lavrov added that Moscow is "fully prepared to fulfill the obligations mutually outlined in the Agreement."
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