Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images and Jesus Vargas/Getty Images
Regime change is in the cards.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is clearly feeling the heat, recently asking President Trump for “face-to-face” talks in English and even singing John Lennon’s classic song “Imagine” at a rally. However, as per The Hill, the U.S. government has flat-out rejected a back-channel offer from Maduro to step down from his post over the next few years in exchange for relieving U.S. pressure on his regime.
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This rejection comes as the U.S. military is seriously beefing up its assets in the region, including the arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford in the Caribbean. The current pressure campaign, dubbed “Operation Southern Spear,” is absolutely massive. We’re talking about around 15,000 U.S. troops, plus warships, F-35s, spy planes, and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, all deployed within the U.S. Southern Command area.
This immense show of force has understandably “spooked” Maduro, according to Benjamin Gedan, a senior fellow and the director of the Stimson Center’s Latin America program. Beyond the hardware, the administration is turning up the heat by designating the country’s Cartel de los Soles a foreign terrorist organization.
U.S. officials are even accusing Maduro of being the leader of the drug cartel
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth recently explained that this classification, which goes into effect next Monday, “brings a whole bunch of new options” for the U.S. to go after the alleged drug cartel. Hegseth stressed that the military’s ability to reach “narco-terrorists in Iraq, Syria and Afghanistan for 20 years is about as well honed as any machine.” He added, “If we need to apply that inside our own hemisphere against narco-terrorists who are terrorizing and poisoning the American people, nobody would do it better.”
President Trump has been intentionally keeping the Venezuelan strongman off balance by refusing to rule out military force, but simultaneously floating the idea of holding talks. This strategy serves a key purpose. Brian Finucane, a senior adviser at the International Crisis Group, noted that while he wouldn’t bet money on whether military force will be authorized, “that serves as leverage in any potential negotiations.”
The goal of this standoff isn’t entirely clear, though. While curbing narcotics is the stated objective, some within the administration are reportedly pushing for full regime change. A Democratic congressional aide voiced real concerns about this mixed messaging, saying, “And given the massive deployment, it’s very scary to think that there’s a possibility that the Trump administration hasn’t planned this out three or four steps in advance.”
The administration isn’t just threatening; they’re acting. President Trump has authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela. Furthermore, the administration has already taken out at least 21 alleged drug-trafficking boats in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific since early September, killing at least 83 people whom U.S. officials call “narco-terrorists.” These vessel strikes have drawn blowback from Democrats and sparked concerns from human rights groups over their legality.
Despite the military buildup and the rejected offer, the door for diplomacy isn’t completely shut. President Trump told reporters on Sunday that “We may be having some discussions with Maduro, and we’ll see how that turns out.”
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Author: 360 Technology Group
Published: Nov 21, 2025 01:00 pm