Maduro hits back at Trump: ‘Inventing new eternal war’
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has accused Donald Trump of warmongering after deploying the US Navy’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, to the Caribbean.
Maduro told his country’s state media that the United States was “inventing a new forever war” as the Trump administration stepped up operations to target suspected drug-trafficking boats.
It comes as US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that six “narcoterrorists” had been killed in the latest US strike on a suspected drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean Sea.
Why it matters
Like most countries, the United States does not recognize Maduro as president of Venezuela, following the 2024 elections that he is accused of stealing.
But Maduro and his regime are also at the center of Trump’s crackdown on drug trafficking. Recent strikes on ships in the Caribbean that the United States says are linked to the Venezuelan leader have coincided with a major U.S. military buildup in the region.
Maduro’s comments will add to already high tensions given the deployment of the U.S. Navy’s largest aircraft carrier to the Caribbean to join U.S. Navy ships and a nuclear-powered submarine.
What you need to know
Maduro accused the United States of “manufacturing a new war” after sending the world’s largest warship, capable of carrying up to 90 planes, to the Caribbean.
The United States has already deployed eight navy ships to the region, as well as nuclear-powered submarines and about 6,000 sailors and Marines, according to officials.
The increased U.S. military presence in the Caribbean follows at least 10 airstrikes against ships in the region, which the Trump administration has said is part of a war operation against drug trafficking linked to Maduro, who has denied the claims.
Defense Secretary Hegseth announced the most recent strike against a boat he said was operated by Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang designated by the Trump administration as a terrorist organization.
Maduro said in a speech Friday that the United States had promised it would never get involved in a war again, but is getting involved in a “new forever war.”
The Pentagon said in a statement that the additional forces deployed to the Caribbean would enhance capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade transnational criminal organizations. But there will be some nervousness in the region over whether the deployment of the aircraft carrier is intended for strikes inside Venezuela and whether it precedes a move by Trump to oust Maduro.
Kenneth Roberts, a Latin America expert from Cornell University, said News week that under Trump, the United States was returning to a model of interventionism in Latin America.
Roberts said what is new is publicly announcing the authorization of covert activities against the Maduro regime, while linking them to deadly military attacks on civilian boats off the coast of Venezuela for their alleged involvement in drug trafficking.
Trump is now also threatening action against Colombia, but Latin American countries have often joined forces to oppose unilateral U.S. interventionism in the past.
“But political divisions between left- and right-wing governments in Latin America create uncertainty about the region’s response to this new assertion from Washington,” Roberts added.
What people say
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said during a speech in Caracas: “The people of the United States know it, they are inventing a new forever war. They promised they would never get involved in another war, and now they are inventing a war that we are going to prevent. How? By mobilizing the people of South America.”
In a statement, the Pentagon said of the USS Gerald R Ford deployment: “will strengthen and augment existing capabilities to disrupt drug trafficking and degrade and dismantle transnational criminal organizations.”
Kenneth Roberts, professor, Cornell University said News week: “It has become clear that the United States is returning to a pattern of interventionism very familiar in Latin America under the second presidency of Donald Trump.”
What happens next
Trump suggested there could be “land action” in Venezuela and hinted at strikes against cocaine factories inside the country. Following Maduro’s comments, questions remain about whether the U.S. action is simply a symbolic show of force or whether it could lead to direct strikes inside Venezuela.
