Donald Trump: Is the US President considering an invasion of Venezuela?Image: keystone
The US government under Donald Trump attacked the Venezuelan mainland for the first time. Does this make war between the two countries more likely?
December 30, 2025, 5:04 p.mDecember 30, 2025, 5:05 p.m
David Schafbuch / t-online
Donald Trump had already announced it last week, but there was still no media response. A “large facility” in Venezuela had been destroyed, the US President said in an interview with radio station 77 WABC on Friday. Boats for drug smuggling were manufactured there. Trump did not provide any specific details about the attack.
On Monday, Trump clarified his information. “There was a big explosion in the port area where the boats are being loaded with drugs.”he said before a meeting with the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida.
The attack on the Venezuelan mainland may have had a limited effect. Nevertheless, the attack is increasing signs that the US government is not interested in drug smuggling in the conflict, as has long been claimed. But about overthrowing the left-wing nationalist ruler Nicolás Maduro.
Reports of CIA involvement
According to US media reports, the attack was carried out by the CIA. Trump had already spoken in mid-October that he had “authorized” the secret service to “operate” in the country. Specifically, it is said to have been a drone attack on a dock that the criminal organization Tren de Aragua allegedly uses to ship drugs.
The facility is said to have been completely destroyed. According to information from the news channel CNN, the strike was more of a symbolic character: there were no injuries or deaths. In addition, it is said to have been just one dock of many that are used for drug smuggling. According to the report, the attack received little attention even in Venezuela.
Evidence is pending
The incident is one of a number of drone strikes by the US government. For several months, the US military has massed more and more soldiers and heavy equipment off the Venezuelan coast and attacked numerous boats. The New York Times counted a total of 30 drone strikes against ships in the Caribbean and the Pacific, in which more than 100 people are said to have died. The US government recently took control of several Venezuelan oil tankers in the region.
The US government has not yet provided any evidence that there were actually drugs on the boats. Critics therefore accuse Washington of breaking international law with the attacks in international waters.
Footage from the US military: Since September, the armed forces have been regularly attacking boats off the coast of Venezuela.Image: sc/x.com
Officially, Trump and other government officials initially emphasized that the attacks were aimed at combating the drug fentanyl. In mid-December, Trump issued a decree classifying the drug as a “weapon of mass destruction.” However, Venezuela is not considered a major transshipment point for the opioid: the drug is usually manufactured in Mexico using raw materials from China and from there reaches the USA.
On the other hand, cocaine is reportedly increasingly being smuggled out of Venezuelan ports. However, the majority of the ships should not dock in the USA, but in European ports. It has long been suspected that the USA is only using drug smuggling as a pretext and that Trump is interested in two other things: the overthrow of Maduro and access to Venezuelan oil reserves.
Recently, demands from Washington have become louder that point to a regime change in the country: Trump suggested Maduro resign last week. Otherwise, the president had threatened consequences: “If he wants to do something – if he shows himself to be tough, it will be the last time he can ever show himself to be tough.” The president also recently no longer ruled out a war with Venezuela.
Nicolás Maduro: Is the USA planning to overthrow the ruler of Venezuela?Image: keystone
US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem had made a similar statement: “We are not limiting ourselves to intercepting these ships, but are also sending a message to the world that Maduro’s illegal activities are intolerable and he has to go,” Noem told Fox News. Susie Wiles, Trump’s White House chief of staff, told Vanity Fair magazine in mid-December that the government planned to bomb ships “until Maduro surrenders.”
The heightened rhetoric towards Maduro could be explained by the fact that mediation between the two sides at the end of November apparently did not produce any results. At that point, Trump and Maduro had last spoken on the phone. Trump appeared unusually reserved after the phone call. «I wouldn’t say it went well or badly. “It was a phone call,” Trump told reporters in early December. The Venezuelan ruler, however, called the conversation “respectful” and “warm.”
According to media reports, the possibility of Maduro’s withdrawal was discussed in the conversation. However, both sides could not agree on the conditions under which the ruler of Venezuela could step down. A source told the Miami Herald that it was a last-ditch attempt to prevent a direct confrontation between the two countries.
In fact, there are said to have been considerations within the US government for some time to force Maduro out of office. The New York Times reported at the beginning of November that Trump had been presented with three options: Option one envisaged the bombing of military installations. This was intended to turn the armed forces away from Maduro, which could cause him to flee.
The second option that was suggested to Trump was to send in special forces to kill Maduro. A third option is to send US units to occupy military and oil facilities until Maduro gives up.
Defeat in 72 hours?
It is currently difficult to estimate whether such an operation or a deployment of US ground troops will take place in the country. It is clear, however, that major military intervention poses risks for Trump. The US government would not have the support of the population for an attack. According to one Opinion poll Quinnipiac University In mid-December, 63 percent of Americans were against military intervention in Venezuela, and 53 percent also opposed strikes against the suspected drug boats.
Trump himself had repeatedly advertised that as president he would not start new wars, but rather end them. In addition, a war with Venezuela could prove complicated for the USA.
Problems start after victory
Phil Gunson, office manager of the International Crisis Group think tank in Venezuela, told “Spiegel” that the US military could probably defeat the Venezuelan troops within 72 hours.
However, the problem begins afterwards: in order to establish a new political order, tens of thousands of US soldiers have to be stationed in a country. “I’m sure Trump wants to avoid this,” said the Venezuela expert.
Gunson pointed out that Venezuela is about twice the size Iraq be. The USA last had the Gulf state under its president George W Bush Attacked in 2003 on false claims that he possessed weapons of mass destruction. Bush declared the operation over after just two months. In fact, the last US troops only left the country in 2011.
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