Venezuela Responds to Increased US Naval Presence with Military Exercises
CARACAS,Venezuela – Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López warned that the deployment of US naval forces,including the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford,is approaching Venezuelan shores “closer every day,” as Venezuela conducts its own military exercises in response. Padrino López stated the Venezuelan troops remain “unwavering, persistent and very determined to continue defending every centimeter” of the national territory, characterizing the US deployment as “an unprecedented deployment of naval air resources by one of the largest powers in the world from a military point of view.”
Padrino López also accused the United States of “murder[ing] people extrajudicially in the Caribbean and the Pacific,” though he did not provide supporting evidence.
the Pentagon confirmed the deployment of the USS Gerald Ford, the largest aircraft carrier in the US fleet, along with its strike group to the Caribbean under the supervision of the Southern Command. US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ordered the deployment to “dismantle transnational criminal organizations,” according to Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell, aiming to “strengthen the capacity of the United States to detect, monitor and dismantle illicit actors and activities.”
The US operation includes three assault and amphibious transport ships, F-35B fighters, P-8 patrol aircraft, and MQ-9 drones operating from a base in Puerto Rico. In recent weeks, the Trump management has increased operations in the region, reportedly destroying nine boats and causing the deaths of at least 37 people in incidents near the coasts of Venezuela and Colombia.
In response to the escalating tensions, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro ordered the deployment of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces, alongside militiamen and police forces, in 72-hour military exercises along the Venezuelan coast, coinciding with the expansion of the US naval presence.
