- Trump is reportedly weighing options in Venezuela, including potential actions targeting oil fields, military infrastructure and high‑level leadership.
CARACAS, (venezuelanalysis.com) – The US military build-up in the Caribbean is facing growing international opposition, while the Trump administration continues to send out mixed messages amid threats against Venezuela.
Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, rejected the idea of a “ground invasion” of Venezuela, defending the region’s “zone of peace” status, which was declared by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) in 2014.
“I don’t want us to resort to a ground invasion. I told president Trump that political problems aren’t solved with weapons. They are solved through dialogue,” Lula said to reporters Tuesday. He added that the upcoming IV CELAC-European Union summit in Santa Marta, Colombia, would address the situation in Venezuela and the deployment of US military forces in the Southern Caribbean Sea.
Lula’s statements follow MST leader João Pedro Stédile’s call for the Brazilian government to take decisive action and show solidarity with Venezuela.
The governments of Nicaragua, Colombia, Honduras, Mexico, Cuba, Russia, China, Iran, Yemen, as well as other regional organisations and leaders, have also recently rejected US military threats against Venezuela. On Wednesday, Pope Leo urged the US to “seek dialogue.”
Since mid-August, the Trump administration has stationed warships, a nuclear-powered submarine and thousands of troops off the coast of Venezuela, while US warplanes have repeatedly entered Venezuela’s flight information region. The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, is expected to arrive in the Caribbean in mid-November.
The Trump administration claims the buildup is part of a counternarcotics mission to prevent drugs from reaching US territory. Since September, US forces have bombed at least 17 alleged US-bound drug smuggling boats, killing 67 people. The last strike occurred Tuesday, killing two, announced US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
The White House has not presented evidence that the boats were involved in illicit activities. United Nations (UN) experts issued a third communiqué Tuesday, urging the US to stop its “systematic” and “unprovoked” lethal attacks on boats in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific, warning that the White House is committing extrajudicial killings and potential international crimes. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk recently condemned the strikes as well.
The rapid US military build-up near Venezuelan coasts has raised concerns that Washington is preparing for military action against the Caribbean nation. Trump and his top officials have accused Caracas of leading a network of “narcoterrorism” and have placed a US$50 million bounty on president Nicolás Maduro’s head.
The White House has never provided court-tested evidence to support its claims, which are contradicted by reports from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA). Both agencies have found Venezuela to be a non-drug-producing country and a marginal player in global narcotics trafficking.
On Monday, the international peasants’ network La Vía Campesina denounced the “systematic threats of US intervention” in Venezuela, challenging the counternarcotics justification by noting the absence of anti-drug operations within US borders.
“We reject the arguments used by imperialism and its representative, Donald Trump, to deploy nuclear submarines and missiles off the coasts of Venezuela and the Caribbean under the pretext of combating drug cartels in the region,” read the statement.
Trump has alluded to potential military action against Venezuela. In October, he confirmed authorization for the CIA to carry out lethal covert operations in Venezuela, and he has repeatedly stated that land strikes against alleged drug targets on Venezuelan soil would follow strikes at sea.
Last week, Trump told CBS News that he doubted the US was heading towards war with Venezuela, although he could not comment on the prospect of land strikes. He also said that Maduro’s days were “numbered”.
Reports from The New York Times claim that Trump is considering three options for Venezuela: airstrikes on military facilities in an attempt to collapse the military and turn it against the Venezuelan government; special forces operations to capture or kill Maduro; and seizing control of airfields and oil sites.
Richard Grenell, the White House special envoy who led negotiations with Caracas before Washington ordered them to halt, dismissed the New York Times story as “full of errors” and said it should have been published in the opinion section.
The Trump administration has likewise dismissed previous reports by the Miami Herald and the Wall Street Journal that land and decapitation strikes in Venezuela were imminent.
The post Brazil’s Lula – Vía Campesina rejects US threats as Trump weighs Venezuela ‘options’ appeared first on Caribbean News Global.