Venezuela Situation: US. War on Narco-Terrorism in Venezuela.

[Liliea]

After Donald Trump's government decided to declare itself—without congressional approval—at war with drug cartels, labelling them as "non-state armed groups" that carry out armed attacks against America, the escalation and harassment of Venezuela was swift. President Trump has stated that his administration is evaluating the possibility of launching military operations on Venezuelan territory against drug cartels that, according to the White House, operate from there.


Poster published by the DEA offering a reward of $50 million for Nicolás Maduro.

On September 5, Trump assured that Washington was not considering overthrowing the government in Caracas. Just days earlier, on September 2, he reported that US forces had killed 11 members of a Venezuelan drug cartel during an operation in international waters. According to Trump, Venezuela is not doing enough to combat drug trafficking.
TASS

As has been the case with Trump so far, he may back down even though his strategy of harassment works to maintain tension in the region and not lose control. Meanwhile, Venezuela claims that the United States is using the fight against drug trafficking as a pretext, when its real objective is to put pressure on the Bolivarian country.

"Strikes will continue": The U.S. military attacks another ship near Venezuela, according to Hegseth​

The US Department of Defence reported that, on President Trump's orders, an attack was carried out against a vessel linked to organisations designated as terrorists in the area of responsibility of the Southern Command; according to the statement, four alleged drug traffickers were killed. This is the fourth vessel allegedly attacked.

(…)This was the fourth known attack by the US military on vessels in the Caribbean Sea since September 2. In total, the military has killed 21 people who it claims were trafficking drugs, as if they were enemy soldiers in a war zone and not suspects of a crime.
nytimes

"Our intelligence undoubtedly confirmed that this vessel was trafficking narcotics, that the individuals on board were narco-terrorists, and that they were operating on a known drug trafficking transit route," Hegseth wrote. "These attacks will continue until the attacks against the American people end!!!!"
"This morning, on the orders of President [Donald] Trump, I ordered a lethal kinetic strike against a vessel transporting drugs and linked to organisations recognised as terrorists," Pete Hegseth said on social media platform X.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1974150886084485503

According to the Administration, the action took place in international waters off the Venezuelan coast while the vessel was transporting "substantial quantities of narcotics" bound for the United States. US authorities say they will continue with similar attacks.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1974104710937444410

Earlier, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto strongly protested the intrusion of US combat aircraft into the republic's airspace, as recorded by Venezuela's integrated air defense system. He called these actions a provocation that threatens national sovereignty and violates international law.

The Venezuelan Ministries of Defence and Foreign Affairs strongly condemned the illegal incursion of US military aircraft detected on 2 October some 75 km off the coast, within the Maiquetía FIR.
The Comprehensive Aerospace Defence Command (CODAI) identified the manoeuvre and described it as an action that "threatens national sovereignty and violates international law and the Chicago Convention".

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has voiced the opinion that the republic is facing the most serious threat of a US invasion in the last 100 years.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1973791660883759250

​

Venezuela mourns military helicopter crash​

A Bolivarian Military Aviation aircraft crashed in the state of Aragua, in the north of the South American country, killing the two Army officers on board, the Bolivarian National Armed Forces reported.

The senior officers who lost their lives were Major Noglys Carolina García Rondón and Lieutenant Commander Carlos Alfonzo Castillo Sánchez, the authority said. The helicopter that crashed was an Enstrom 480.

"President Nicolás Maduro has ordered an investigation to determine the possible causes of the accident," he said.

Fanb confirmó dos muertos tras caída de helicóptero de la Aviación Militar Bolivariana

La Fuerza Armada Nacional Bolivariana (Fanb) se declaró de luto tras el accidente aéreo ocurrido la mañana de este viernes, que cobró la vida […]

lapatilla.com

US hits drug trafficking vessel off Venezuela — Pentagon chief

According to Pete Hegseth, four men aboard the vessel, identified as narco-terrorists by the US intelligence, were killed in the strike

tass.com

Stephen Miller takes leading role in strikes on alleged Venezuelan drug boats

Exclusive: Miller’s homeland security council has played a key part in coordinating operations, sources say

www.theguardian.com

 

[Ryan]

The situation with the US and Venezuela 'reads' a lot like the lead-up to the attacks on Iran: a lot of rhetoric and bluster, a few skirmishes, "Art of the Deal"-style olive branches while the military build-up continues, one side taking the situation very seriously while the other practises gaslighting.. it appears that the US is getting ready to strike. The CIA has wanted Maduro gone for a long time, and Trump is just too ineffectual as a leader to reign them in.

Likelihood of a decisive attack attempting to 'regime change' Venezuela: high.

 

[mkrnhr]

The lies of the empire of lies are becoming a permanent state of déjà vu. Venezuela's cartels are just another iteration of Iraq's weapons of mass destruction. The empire wants a regime that serves the money powers and the globalists, the rest is propaganda.

 

[cholas]

A search of Ryan Wedding brings much to light involving cartels and Venezuela. And Canada.

As well as shady foreign-owned trucking companies that have been reported on lately.

I believe I read the story on Epoch Times but can't find it now.

 

[mabar]

"This morning, on the orders of President [Donald] Trump, I ordered a lethal kinetic strike against a vessel transporting drugs and linked to organisations recognised as terrorists," Pete Hegseth said on social media platform X.

I would have thought that they would had done it to Mexican cartels but no, out of the blue is against Venezuela.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has voiced the opinion that the republic is facing the most serious threat of a US invasion in the last 100 years.

Very understandable, Venezuela had been an aim for the Empire since decades ago.

 

[cholas]

Still can't find that very informative article(I think it was disappeared) but this is a quote from The Bureau:

Hezbollah Links Emerge in Case of Ryan Wedding, Canadian Snowboarder-Turned-Sinaloa Cartel Smuggler​

RCMP and DEA investigations linked Wedding's networks to Iranian encryption communications and Venezuela's Margarita Island, a command center for Hezbollah's narco-terror operations."​

This very well might be a 3 birds/1 stone scenario. Venezuela apparently happens to be a major player in narco-trafficking as well as "training terrorists". And they have lots of oil of course. Perfect target?

And is Mexico next?

 

[cholas]

Found:

‘Seriously Missed Opportunities’: RCMP Roadblocked U.S. Probes as Lethal Kingpin Ryan Wedding Consolidated Power

"He’s killed God knows how many Canadians. In the Greater Toronto Area alone, people were dropping once a week.”

www.thebureau.news

Unfortunately not viewable in it's entirety unless a paid subscriber.

..." Operation Harrington probe in the mid-2010s. That investigation revealed Wedding’s network transporting cocaine from Venezuela’s Margarita Island — a hub where Hezbollah and Iranian security operatives intersect with the Sinaloa Cartel and networks tied to indicted Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s alleged narco-terror cells — up the Atlantic coast by ship into Halifax."

 

[axj]

Likelihood of a decisive attack attempting to 'regime change' Venezuela: high.

I think what makes an attack on Venezuela more likely is that Trump does seem to sort of indirectly acknowledge the reality of a multipolar world. Which could mean that the US will focus on dominating the Americas, first and foremost. And Venezuela is right there in the "US backyard".

The biggest obstacle in the Americas may be Brazil, unless someone like Bolsonaro comes back to power.

What may make an attack on Venezuela less likely at this time is that there is a high likelyhood of two other major wars starting: Iran vs Israel and NATO vs Russia. Three wars at the same time may stretch the US thin.

 

[Liliea]

The Cartel of the Suns​

The corrupt swamp is present in all governments, and in Venezuela since Chavismo took the reins, its armed wing also took over the existing drug trafficking. The term “soles” describes a sun-shaped medal or decoration given to high-ranking military officers.


Organizational chart describing the Soles cartel according to the U.S. government, March 2020

According to Insightcrime:

The Cartel of the Suns is a term used to describe groups within Venezuela’s armed forces implicated in a wide range of criminal activities, including gasoline smuggling, illegal mining, and other corruption schemes – most notably drug trafficking.
(…) As Nicolás Maduro rose to power following the death of Chávez, the corruption of the state by the drug trade worsened. In 2013, French police seized 1.3 tons of cocaine packed into 31 suitcases on an Air France flight from Caracas, leading to the arrest of 28 people, including a lieutenant colonel and other GNB officers.
(…) The Cartel of the Suns does not have a defined command structure, as it is a collection of autonomous networks that may or may not be related to each other. Instead, there is only a list of names of individuals working in the main branches of Venezuela's armed forces who have been identified by US agents as participating in criminal activities. InSight Crime has a list of 123 active and retired senior Venezuelan government officials who have been involved in cocaine trafficking.
Insightcrime

In July of this year, the US government designated the Cartel of the Suns as an international terrorist organization. On August 7, Attorney General Pam Bondi formally accused Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro of leading a criminal structure that includes the Cartel of the Suns, links to the Aragua Train, connections to the Sinaloa Cartel, and protection of foreign terrorist organizations. The US Department of Justice announced a reward for information leading to his capture, thereby indicating that Washington considers Maduro not only an illegitimate dictator, but also a narco-terrorist.

In response, Maduro announced his own mobilization with the deployment of militiamen throughout the country, assuring that “no empire will touch the sacred soil of Venezuela.”
cnnespanol

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil addressed the UN General Assembly, emphasizing his country's commitment to defending peace in the region, as well as its right to defend its sovereignty against external aggression.

“To all this we now add an absolutely illegal and immoral military threat that violates the UN Charter and Venezuela's rights as a sovereign state,” he said. “Venezuela is fighting for a world of justice and equality, without colonial empires.”

“Venezuela is part of the new multipolar world that has been born,” Gil said. “Our government reaffirms its commitment to international law and a world where the countries of the Global South have the right to a peaceful future.”
cnnespanol

In support, some claim that this organization does not exist as such, even the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, has also denied the existence of this cartel, and his speech at the UN and his latest comments come amid growing military and political tensions between Washington and Caracas.

According to Petro, the real structure controlling cocaine trafficking in the region is a broader organization he calls “the Drug Trafficking Board,” which he says is made up of drug lords operating from Europe and the Middle East.
cnnespanol

“It's the far right's fictitious excuse for overthrowing governments that don't obey them.”

https://twitter.com/x/status/1959991404450488658

It should be noted that Gustavo Petro is beginning his presidential campaign against a strong right-wing opponent and with much of his own left-wing base against him, so any issue is his electoral battle horse.

Multiple cases highlight the involvement of high-ranking officials and members of the Venezuelan armed forces in criminal activities attributed to the Cartel of the Suns. However, the Venezuelan government has not opened rigorous investigations or brought legal proceedings against suspects. In fact, in certain cases, it has promoted military officers accused of participating in drug trafficking activities.
(...)Additionally, the coca-growing boom in Colombia, with unprecedented profits and production, has turned Venezuela into a strategic platform for the export of shipments. This scenario is sustained by the involvement of military personnel of various ranks in smuggling and protection networks, as well as the role of the ELN, which has consolidated territorial control along the border and operates as a key partner in these operations.
Insightcrime

Benítez-Manaut said: During Chávez's time, Colombian guerrillas were not pursued on Venezuelan territory because the Venezuelan president “saw them as ideological allies of the left.”
“This makes it easier for guerrillas to enter, leave, buy weapons and food, and even form alliances with Venezuelan officials and military personnel,” says the Mexican expert.

He adds that because of this, today the so-called Cartel of the Suns is “a consolidated criminal system” that maintains links with other drug trafficking gangs, such as the Aragua Train.
bbc.com

Colombia: declaran estructura criminal a Cartel de los Soles – DW – 17/09/2025

La Cámara Alta considera que ese "grupo criminal es una grave amenaza contra los derechos humanos de los habitantes del territorio colombiano".

www.dw.com

So far, the US has revealed seizures of more than $700 million in assets linked to Maduro and his inner circle, including private jets, yachts, and foreign bank accounts. This was a coordinated legal offensive between the DEA, the FBI, and the Treasury Department.
The FBI says two men have been charged in connection with an alleged money laundering scheme linked to the children of Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro.

FBI busts alleged Maduro-linked money laundering network spanning multiple nations​

FBI Director Kash Patel vowed 'America will never be a safe haven for Maduro’s

FBI busts alleged Maduro-linked money laundering network spanning multiple nations
A summary of the video:
Since 2019, the FBI office in Miami has detected suspicious financial movements in US bank accounts. One of the individuals identified is Arick Komarczyk and his partner, Irazmar Carbajal, alleged front men linked to Maduro's children and their associates, who allegedly opened bank accounts for the regime's heirs and received transfers from Venezuela.
The FBI accuses them of transferring $100,000 linked to sanctioned Chavista funds. According to the file, at least $25,000 reached US territory before the raid was activated.

Rubio slams the United Nations, calls Maduro a 'fugitive of American justice'​

https://twitter.com/x/status/1974844413772763237

“The Department of War has tremendous confidence in the way they are gathering information. They know who’s on those boats. They know what those boats are doing,” Rubio said on Fox News’s Fox News Sunday. “They have the highest confidence in this because of the work that goes into us, because of the tremendous amount of caution they’re taking in deciding who to strike and who not to strike.”

US President Donald Trump said that Venezuelan cartels would soon be smuggling drugs by land and did not rule out Washington using force to stop them.​

“They are no longer coming by sea. That is why we have to monitor the land because they will be forced to move by land. Let me say that it will not end well for them,” the president said in his speech at the main base of the US Navy's Atlantic Fleet in Norfolk.
TASS

______​

And as if Venezuela were experiencing déjà vu, five years ago in March and July 2020, the previous Trump administration attempted the same “Wild West cowboy” style methodology approach (according to a statement) by requesting US$15 million for President Nicolás Maduro and US$10 million and US$5 million for Supreme Court President Maikel Moreno.
On that occasion, some 300 heavily armed volunteers led by a former Navy SEAL planned to sneak into Venezuela and spark a popular uprising. Along the way, they would raid military bases in the socialist country and ignite a popular rebellion that would end with the arrest of President Nicolás Maduro.

(..)The failed attempt to start an uprising collapsed under the collective weight of poor planning, disputes among opposition politicians, and a poorly trained force that had little chance of defeating the Venezuelan army.
usnews.

All the details of this complot are documented in the thread. Venezuela: Resistance or disintegration?

Cartel of the Suns

https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2025/08/25/venezuela/maduro-cifras-inscripciones-milicia-venezuela-orix

https://cnnespanol.cnn.com/2025/08/25/colombia/petro-cartel-soles-tension-eeuu-venezuela-orix

Colombia: declaran estructura criminal a Cartel de los Soles – DW – 17/09/2025

La Cámara Alta considera que ese "grupo criminal es una grave amenaza contra los derechos humanos de los habitantes del territorio colombiano".

www.dw.com

Qué se sabe del Cartel de los Soles, la organización designada como terrorista por EE.UU. y acusada de tener su base en las Fuerzas Armadas de Venezuela - BBC News Mundo

Expertos consultados por BBC Mundo desentrañan los orígenes y la estructura de esta organización designada como terrorista por Estados Unidos y otros países de América.

www.bbc.com

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/a...-led-failed-attempt-to-oust-venezuelas-maduro
https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/14825/

Post in thread 'Venezuela: Resistance or disintegration?'

May 6, 2020

Very interesting story angelburst29. Are we to believe that this Goudreau attempted this mission on his own? So many denials from all parties involved, which makes me think of the phrase, 'believe nothing until it has been officially denied'.

Here is another article that documents pretty much the whole mission and how it came about. Not sure how much is true, but it is a glimpse into the shady world of covert operations.

https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2020-05-01/ex-green-beret-led-failed-attempt-to-oust-venezuelas-maduro

Very interesting indeed! But what makes...

• sToRmR1dR

• 

 

[Liliea]

Likelihood of a decisive attack attempting to 'regime change' Venezuela: high.

Speculating a little, it could be possible that Trump was not bold enough in his first term to carry out a military incursion, even though he had every intention of installing a provisional government with Guaidó as his proxy. There was also a significant obstacle, which was Operation Covid underway. Therefore, I agree with you and believe that the probability is very high, although there is a risk that Iran will get in the way.

 

[Liliea]

Very understandable, Venezuela had been an aim for the Empire since decades ago.

If it is a strategic location full of natural resources to exploit, it has the largest oil reserves in the world, according to reports, and the neighborhood has many US bases. For a president who worked and became a millionaire in the real estate sector, it must be a good investment.