Venezuela Deploys Troops as US Escalates Caribbean ‘Anti-Cartel Operation’

Venezuela is deploying 15,000 troops to its border with Colombia to fight drug trafficking, while the United States sends two additional navy ships to the southern Caribbean as part of President Donald Trump’s campaign to disrupt Latin American drug cartels.

Venezuelan Minister of Interior Diosdado Cabello said Caracas will bolster security in Zulia and Tachira states. “Here, we do fight drug trafficking; here, we do fight drug cartels on all fronts,” he said, adding that the operation has seized 53 tonnes of drugs so far this year.

Cabello said the security measures will include aircraft, drones, and riverine patrols, and called on Colombia to take similar steps to “ensure peace along the entire axis.”

The deployment follows US accusations that President Nicolás Maduro and Cabello are linked to the Cartel de los Soles, which Washington has labelled a global terrorist organisation. The Trump administration has also designated Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua, Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, and other drug gangs as global terrorist groups.

The US recently doubled the reward for Maduro’s capture on drug charges to $50 million.

Maduro described the US action as an “imperialist threat” and called for militia recruitment, saying, “I am confident that we will overcome this test that life has imposed on us, this imperialist threat to the peace of the continent and to our country.”