Trump Denies Reports That US Poised to Strike Venezuela
Mexico City, Mexico, October 31, 2025 (venezuelanalysis.com) – President Donald Trump denied reports that claimed his administration was reportedly poised to launch strikes on military installations inside Venezuela.
The Miami Herald reported Friday that sources had indicated Trump had made the determination and that the strikes could come at any moment, within days or even hours. However, Trump told reporters on board Air Force One that strikes in Venezuela were not imminent, despite reports in the media suggesting otherwise.
A US military attack inside Venezuela would represent the most serious escalation yet by the Trump administration in its bombing campaign targeting alleged drug smuggling boats throughout the region.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk condemned the US military actions, labeling them as “unacceptable” and calling for an investigation into the strikes.
“These attacks and their mounting human cost are unacceptable. The US must halt such attacks and take all measures necessary to prevent the extrajudicial killing of people aboard these boats,” said Ravina Shamdasani, a spokeswoman for Türk’s office.
Sources claim the targets of the potential strikes would be military installations allegedly used by the so-called “Cartel de los Soles,” a drug trafficking organization that the US accuses President Nicolás Maduro of leading. US officials have failed to present court-tested evidence linking high-ranking Venezuelan officials to narcotics activities or the existence of the alleged cartel.
Reporting by the Herald confirms an earlier report from the Wall Street Journal that claimed the Trump administration had identified targets, including military infrastructure, that it claims are used for drug smuggling. However, the Wall Street Journal claimed that the White House had not yet decided to proceed.
One source told the Herald that there were elements inside the Venezuelan armed forces “willing to capture” Maduro, raising the spectre that the latest leaks could be part of a campaign aimed at pressuring the Venezuelan president to resign on his own accord.
Trump is reportedly frustrated with Maduro’s refusal to step down and Venezuela’s rejection of “narcoterrorism” allegations as being unfounded and politically motivated.
“Maduro is about to find himself trapped and might soon discover that he cannot flee the country even if he decided to,” the source told the Herald.
Caracas had not issued a statement in response to the latest developments at the time of writing. Maduro recently denounced an alleged “false flag” attack with the complicity of Trinidad and Tobago aimed at drawing Venezuela into an international military conflict with the US.
Trump recently authorized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to carry out lethal covert operations in Venezuela as part of escalating regime-change efforts against Caracas.
“The CIA, with all the evil that characterizes them, was going to attack US ships… Who were they going to blame? What do you think, if a US ship suddenly exploded somewhere off the coast of Trinidad and Tobago, who would they have blamed?” asked Maduro at an event at the De Cara al Río Commune Thursday.
The US campaign began in September with bombings of alleged drug smuggling boats in the Caribbean off of Venezuela’s coast and later expanded to the Pacific, even drawing in Mexico earlier this month with a strike 800 kms off the coast of the state of Guerrero.
UN experts have called these killings “extrajudicial executions.” US forces have struck 15 vessels since early September, killing a reported 61 civilians in total.
Since mid-August, the Trump administration has stationed warships, a nuclear-powered submarine and an estimated 4,500 troops off the coast of Venezuela, while US warplanes have repeatedly entered Venezuela’s flight information region. The White House is also moving the USS Gerald Ford, an aircraft carrier, along with its strike group, to the Caribbean.
The military buildup follows Washington’s accusations that Caracas is involved in drug trafficking. However, reports from the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) over the years have identified Venezuela as a marginal player in global drug trafficking.
Edited by Ricardo Vaz in Caracas.