Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said Monday that the drills, ordered directly by President Nicolas Maduro, will involve land, air, naval, and reserve forces. The goal, he explained, is to “optimize command, control and communications” across Venezuela’s defense network.
The exercises, which are set to continue through Wednesday, will also include the Bolivarian Militia, a civilian reserve force created under the late Hugo Chavez. Padrino said the operation is part of Maduro’s wider “Independence Plan 200,” meant to prepare both soldiers and civilians for a coordinated national defense effort, reports CNN.
The announcement follows the recent arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest aircraft carrier in the US fleet, to the US Southern Command area of operations. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the carrier and its strike group to move from Europe to the Caribbean late last month.
The strike group includes more than 4,000 sailors, two Arleigh Burke-class destroyers, the USS Bainbridge and USS Mahan, and the air and missile defense command ship USS Winston S. Churchill. The U.S. military says the buildup is aimed at cracking down on drug trafficking routes into the United States, though Venezuelan officials claim Washington’s real goal is to destabilize the Maduro government.
American bombers have recently conducted several training flights close to the Venezuelan coast, including what the Pentagon described as a “bomber attack demonstration” in late October.
Meanwhile, about 10 F-35 fighter jets and at least three MQ-9 Reaper drones have been spotted at a base in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, which has become a key US operations hub in the Caribbean.
The Bolivarian National Armed Forces of Venezuela has around 123,000 troops. Maduro has claimed that an additional eight million civilians are now enlisted in volunteer militias, though analysts have questioned both the accuracy of that figure and the readiness of those forces.
“With the Ford’s arrival, there are now roughly 15,000 US military personnel in the area,” one defense analyst told local media. Several other US Navy groups were already positioned nearby.
