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Just last October, Maduro’s government claimed to have foiled a “false flag operation” to plant explosives at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas. And back in 2020, when a failed raid by American mercenaries tried to infiltrate Venezuela, intelligence insiders hinted that Maduro’s security forces may have known about the plan in advance — and allowed it to happen to humiliate the opposition.
Each time, Maduro points to the U.S. as the villain while clinging tighter to power.
President Trump, meanwhile, has made it crystal clear that the days of appeasing Maduro are over. Earlier this month, Trump reportedly authorized CIA covert operations targeting the Venezuelan regime — and the dictator’s behavior since then shows he knows his grip on power is slipping.
The Trump administration has doubled the bounty on Maduro’s capture to $50 million, citing his deep ties to drug cartels. The U.S. has also designated several Venezuelan criminal groups as Foreign Terrorist Organizations, further tightening the screws.
In recent weeks, U.S. forces have executed multiple operations in the Caribbean and Pacific, destroying drug-smuggling vessels and killing dozens of traffickers. And now, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has sent the USS Gerald Ford carrier strike group to the region — the most advanced U.S. carrier in service, equipped with stealth jets and massive strike power.
Senator Lindsey Graham didn’t mince words when speaking with CBS News. He warned that land strikes in Venezuela are “a real possibility” and said Trump plans to brief Congress on expanding operations after his return from Asia.
“I think President Trump’s made a decision that Maduro, the leader of Venezuela, is an indicted drug trafficker, that it’s time for him to go,” Graham said. He even issued a direct warning to the embattled dictator: “If I were Maduro, I’d find a way to leave before heat goes down.”
Graham likened Trump’s boldness to President George H.W. Bush’s 1989 invasion of Panama to oust drug lord Manuel Noriega — another tyrant who underestimated U.S. resolve.
Even Trump himself confirmed Maduro’s desperation: “He’s offered everything,” the President said, referring to Maduro’s frantic negotiation attempts. “You know why? Because he doesn’t want to f* around with the United States.”**
To justify his latest claims, Maduro’s government bizarrely compared its supposed “mercenary capture” to historical flashpoints like the USS Maine explosion in 1898 and the Gulf of Tonkin incident in 1964 — both of which preceded U.S. military interventions.
The regime routinely boasts of capturing “U.S.-backed mercenaries” working to destabilize Venezuela. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello even claimed at least four suspects were taken into custody. However, The Miami Herald reported it “could not independently confirm the arrest of any group or the existence of coordinated operations involving the CIA.”
If Maduro thought Washington would blink, he’s mistaken. The United States now maintains the largest military footprint in the Caribbean in decades — 10,000 troops in Puerto Rico, multiple destroyers, a nuclear submarine, and a full array of B-1B bombers, B-52s, and F-35 fighters on standby near Venezuelan waters.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, who recently won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize, has openly called for U.S. intervention to remove Maduro once and for all.
Maduro may still try to spin conspiracies and point fingers at the CIA — but with U.S. warships circling and his people rising against him, it’s clear the clock is ticking on his crumbling dictatorship.
