The U.S. Navy's most advanced aircraft carrier has arrived in the Latin American region, officials said Tuesday, capping a months-long military buildup that coincided with increased threats against Venezuela from the Trump administration.
The Pentagon said THE deployment of the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest and most advanced aircraft carrier in the world, would “strengthen and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle transnational criminal organizations.”
The aircraft carrier joins eight warships, a nuclear submarine, F-35 jets and some 10,000 US military personnel already deployed to the region in previous months.o waged what the Trump administration called a “non-international armed conflict” against “narcoterrorists,” who the Trump administration claims are supported by the Venezuelan government.
Learn more: Trump's Caribbean Bombing Campaign Drives War on Terror in the Americas
The administration first launched strikes against suspected cartel boats in the Caribbean Sea in September, alleging that members of the Tren de Aragua (TDA) were on board. More than a dozen ships near Venezuelan waters were attacked in the months that followed, killing more than 75 people and force the Latin American country to adopt its own protective measures as U.S. officials weigh the possibility of launching ground strikes.
The U.S. government has not released any evidence that any of the ships attacked were carrying drugs.
The administration's operation against the cartels has since threatened to escalate into a broader conflict with Venezuela. President Donald Trump has denied seeking change of dietbut has consistently called Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro an illegitimate leader and accused him of supporting cartels.
As the United States steadily increases its troop numbers in the region, Trump has threatened to strike inside Venezuela, apparently to target Venezuela. drug productionand authorized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to conduct covert missions in the country.
“We're certainly looking at land now, because we have the sea very well under control,” Trump told reporters in October.
Maduro accused Trump of pushing for war against Venezuela.
“They promised they would never get involved in a war again and they are manufacturing a war that we will avoid,” he said on a national broadcast. last month.
Here's how the country would prepare for possible US airstrikes.
Mobilization and high alert
On Tuesday, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López announcement a plan to place the country's army in “full operational readiness”, calling for the deployment of all land, air, river and missile assets, as well as the country's militias, until Wednesday.
“National unity will respond to aggression,” López said. “We are ready here, we don’t want war.”
The deployment advances Maduro's “Independence Plan 200,” a military order adopted in response to the increased U.S. presence in the Caribbean. Padrino said the deployment was intended to “deal with imperial threats.”
Last month, Venezuelan officials announced they had begun training civilians for military operations. Estimates indicate that the country has some 340,000 members of the armed forces, compared to 1.3 million U.S. military personnel on active duty.
The “peasant militia” group was sworn in by Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello in October.
The civilian branch of the Venezuelan militia was created under former Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to help defend the country, although it did not receive the same level of training as other active military personnel.
Prepare for guerrilla warfare
Planning for the Venezuelan war went so far as to include a plan for an all-out ground invasion by U.S. forces.
Officials with knowledge of Venezuela's defense forces said Reuters that the country is considering launching a guerrilla-style war – a tactic used in the South American countries of Peru and Colombia – if the country were to face a foreign attack.
Guerrilla implied small-scale actions carried out by political forces that operate independently or in conjunction with a broader political strategy to attack an opposing side.
Venezuela has reportedly sent smaller military units to more than 280 locations across the country in anticipation of “prolonged resistance,” according to the report.
Venezuelan officials are also considering another strategy known as “anarchization.” Under the plan, the government would use its intelligence and supporters to sow chaos in the country, making governance difficult in the event of an overthrow.
An application to report suspicious behavior
The Venezuelan government is finding new ways to combat possible U.S. espionage as a possible attack approaches.
It repurposed an app previously used as a hotline for residents to report utility malfunctions into a tool for reporting suspicious behavior by fellow residents. This comes after Trump confirmed he had authorized covert CIA actions in Venezuela, apparently to prevent drugs from entering the United States.
VenApp was used last year to report political dissidents are questioning the validity of Maduro's second re-election to their federal government, according to global charity Amnesty International.
But more recently, Maduro invited military forces in October to oversee the design of a new mobile app that would allow residents to “securely report everything they hear, everything they read,” CNN said. reports. This includes informing the government of drones, “suspicious persons,” or actions they may view as evidence of disloyalty.
Ask for foreign help
For many years, Venezuela has depended on help from foreign powers to supplement its military forces, from Iranian and Russian missiles to Chinese armored vehicles.
Amid possible confrontation with the United States, one of the world's most powerful military forces, they began seeking help from those same allies to once again bolster their capabilities, demanding “defensive radars, aircraft repairs and potentially missiles,” according to the report. Washington Job.
In October, the Venezuelan president asked China, Iran and Russia for help. Job reported.
The Russian Foreign Ministry said in response to the reported requests that Russia was “ready to respond appropriately to the requests of our partners in light of emerging threats.”
According to the Financial TimesBoth the Venezuelan military, arsenal and vehicles are poorly maintained and not ready for serious conflict. Poor maintenance of weapons, helicopters and other military equipment is also a problem to a weaker national army system.
