The United States has positioned three guided-missile destroyers and roughly 4,000 marines in Caribbean waters close to Venezuela, describing the operation as part of an intensified campaign to disrupt regional narcotics trafficking. The deployment, confirmed by U.S. officials and first reported earlier this week, comes on the heels of Washington’s decision to double to US$50 million the reward for information leading to the capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. DEA Administrator Terry Cole reinforced the hard-line stance, telling U.S. media that Venezuela has become a “narco-terrorist state” working with Colombia’s ELN and dissident FARC factions to send record volumes of cocaine to Mexican cartels. Cole said the United States has already seized more cocaine in 2025 than in previous years and predicted a decline in fentanyl deaths thanks to tighter border controls. Caracas rejected the accusations. Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino López warned Washington “not to lay a hand” on Venezuelan territory, while Vice-President Delcy Rodríguez called the DEA’s claims “unfounded” and said “the real cartel is in the north.” Maduro’s government has placed paramilitary units on alert and is rallying diplomatic support through the Bolivarian Alliance (ALBA). Regional and international criticism of the U.S. naval move has mounted. China’s foreign ministry said the patrols violate Venezuelan sovereignty and threaten regional peace; Cuba, Bolivia and Nicaragua issued similar statements at an extraordinary ALBA summit. Brazil’s navy is monitoring the situation it views as ‘pressure’ near its strategic perimeter, and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum reiterated her country’s constitutional doctrine of non-intervention. From New York, UN Secretary-General António Guterres urged both countries to settle their differences “by peaceful means.”