Accusing Venezuelan and Colombian Presidents Nicolás Maduro and Gustavo Petro of leading continental drug trafficking, Donald Trump mobilized the Southern Command (SouthCom) , sinking fishing boats in more than 17 attacks in the Caribbean Sea (and recently in the Pacific), resulting in the deaths of 83 alleged drug traffickers, under the pretense of combating drug cartels. And since September 2nd, the US president has yet to present any evidence confirming that these vessels belonged to drug traffickers.

These provocations break the traditional state of peace in the Latin American continent, so Colombia and Venezuela raised the alarm, responding to these threats in the diplomatic field and in military defense; which includes a Venezuelan alliance with the Russian Federation.

In the first attack on a fishing boat in the Caribbean Sea, on September 2, Trump began a systematic offensive against small vessels in the area, in order to "protect American interests," justifying the "narco" status of the boats, which he describes as a danger to the internal security of the U.S.

The United States, followed by Europe, is the main consumer and importer of cocaine from South America , but it seems to overlook the fact that Venezuela and Colombia are carrying out a campaign that has significantly reduced drug trafficking from their borders, through bilateral cooperation that has brought drug trafficking in their countries to historic lows. In fact, Washington has also failed to mention that in 2025, Daniel Noboa's Ecuador consolidated its position as the world's leading exporter of cocaine. However, Trump transformed his typical rhetoric into a threat, and a US military intervention remains a real possibility.

Venezuela formally denounced the situation before the UN Security Council (UNSC), demanding that the body recognize the United States' military escalation in the Caribbean as a threat to international peace and security. Russia responded by reaffirming that " Venezuela has reason to believe that its northern neighbor [the US] is ready to move from threat to action." Furthermore, the Russian diplomatic representative to the UNSC, citing data from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), confirmed that 87% of the drugs reaching the US arrive via the Pacific Ocean, to which Venezuela does not even have access.

Another ploy in media rhetoric directly impacted Venezuela's main opposition leader, Corina Machado, when she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on October 10th —a prize that Trump had so prominently displayed since the beginning of his presidency. This occurred on the same day that Caracas went to the UN Security Council to denounce the escalation of violence . This suggests that the American magnate used the prize as a media weapon to promote Machado as a "blessed" force.

The Venezuelan government has repeatedly denounced Donald Trump's operation as a potential "regime change" in Venezuela, along with a CIA-backed intervention. The Associated Press revealed that in early 2024, the United States attempted to kidnap President Nicolás Maduro by offering a $50 million bribe to the pilot of Venezuela's presidential plane, General Bitner Villegas. This operation failed because General Villegas refused to betray his country's government .

The fourth CELAC-EU Summit was held in the Colombian city of Santa Marta on November 9 and 10. There, the peaceful nature of Latin America and respect for the UN Charter were reaffirmed in an attempt to de-escalate the conflict. However, the final declaration contained no joint condemnation of the military intervention currently being carried out by the United States in the Caribbean Sea . This lack of support from the European Union (EU) for CELAC demonstrates the pattern of a Monroe Doctrine 2.0, which this time includes not only "America for the Americans" (in the eyes of Europeans), but also European submission to the renewed US interests in Latin America, within the context of its trade dispute with China.

Finally, on November 13th, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hagseth announced "Operation Southern Spear": a military offensive that puts the USS Gerald Ford , the world's largest aircraft carrier, in the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela.

However, the historic relationship between the Russian Federation and the Bolivarian government seemed to anticipate this scenario on October 7 of this year, when both countries signed the ambitious Strategic Partnership Treaty that envisions continuous cooperation in politics and economics, energy, mining, transport, communications, as well as in security and the fight against terrorism and extremism.

 This Russian-Venezuelan collaboration is very close in terms of weaponry, as confirmed by Alexei Zhuravliov , First Vice Chairman of the Defense Committee of the State Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament), who stated that “ Russia supplies Venezuela with almost its entire arsenal, from small arms to aircraft.” He also noted that “ the Russian SU-30MK2 fighter jets are the backbone of the Venezuelan air force, making it one of the most powerful air forces in the region.”

In the context of this growing Caribbean conflict, Zhuravliov even mentioned the possibility of selling Venezuela Oreshnik-type intermediate-range hypersonic ballistic missiles , which can reach targets between 3,000 and 5,500 km away; missile tests of which were recently demonstrated on the battlefields of the fighting that the Russian Federation is waging against NATO in Ukraine.