Overview
- Trump said ground attacks against narcotraffickers will start “soon,” adding targets need not be inside Venezuela and giving no operational timeline or locations.
- He cited the naval campaign’s results, claiming 96% of seaborne drugs were interdicted and about 25,000 U.S. lives were saved after strikes that reports say left roughly 87 dead.
- U.S. deployments total about 15,000 personnel with the carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, warships, Coast Guard units, F/A‑18 fighters and EA‑18G Growlers that flew near Venezuela’s coasts, according to tracking data and officials.
- Treasury’s OFAC announced new blocks on alleged Maduro associates, and U.S. forces seized the Venezuelan tanker Skipper now headed to Houston, actions condemned by Cuba and criticized by a Non‑Aligned statement reported locally.
- Venezuelan officials accused Washington of seeking war, UN rights chief Volker Türk called prior maritime killings extrajudicial and unlawful, and Lt. Gen. Evan L. Pettus assumed command at U.S. Southern Command.