Venezuela’s air defenses include Russian-supplied S-125 Pechora systems. (Venezuelan Defense Ministry)
Caracas, December 15, 2025 (venezuelanalysis.com) – The Venezuelan Armed Forces reiterated their commitment to defend the Caribbean nation’s airspace amid an escalating US military buildup and provocations.
Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino issued a statement Sunday to mark the 47th anniversary of the Venezuelan Integral Airspace Defense Command (CODAI), hailing the system’s “effective and immediate” response capabilities against “imperialist threats.”
“With its modern radars, missile systems and surface-to-air artillery, CODAI has become the vanguard of the country’s defense,” Padrino wrote on social media. The defense minister went on to highlight CODAI’s “technological independence.”
Padrino’s comments occurred amid a large-scale US military buildup in the Caribbean in a self-declared anti-narcotics mission. The Trump administration has repeatedly threatened to launch strikes against purported drug targets inside Venezuelan territory.
After moving their largest US aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, to the region in November, US forces have likewise ramped up warplane deployments to bases in Puerto Rico. According to reports, the US Navy moved six EA-18G Growler electronic warfare jets to the island’s Roosevelt Roads naval station.
Designed by Boeing, the EA-18G Growlers have advanced capabilities to disrupt and deceive enemy military electronic systems, including air defenses.
Open-access flight tracking websites have shown EA-18G Growlers operating in the Caribbean in recent days. On Tuesday, F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets flew for 40 minutes close to the Gulf of Venezuela in the country’s west. Analysts argued that the warplanes could have been mapping air defense systems spotted in the region days before.
On Friday night, social media users watching flight trackers reported that a Growler, codenamed GRIZZLY2, and a Super Hornet, codenamed RHINO61, were flying over Venezuela’s Los Roques archipelago and continental mainland, respectively. However, the false positions were a consequence of trackers such as Flight Radar 24 extrapolating an aircraft’s position for a limited time after losing signal on the basis of the last measured position and speed.
The Venezuelan government and armed forces have consistently denounced the US military maneuvers, accusing Washington of attempting to fabricate a false flag incident to justify an open conflict.
The US’ increased military activity has also affected commercial aviation. On Sunday, JetBlue denounced that an airplane on a Curaçao-New York had to halt its ascent due to the presence of a US Air Force refueling tanker in its path. Curaçao is 40 miles away from Venezuela’s coast.
US authorities have also issued a Notice to Airmen (NOTAM) urging extra caution to planes flying in Venezuela’s Flight Information Region (FIR). For his part, Trump wrote on social media that Venezuela’s airspace should be “considered closed.”
International airlines flying to and from Caracas have suspended their services. Venezuelan companies continue to offer connections to regional destinations including Panama City, Bogotá and Santo Domingo.
ALBA alliance condemns US threats
Amidst the ongoing US military threats and buildup, the Nicolás Maduro government has received diplomatic backing from its main allies. Last week, the Venezuelan leader held phone calls with his Russian, Iranian and Brazilian counterparts to discuss bilateral relations and the threats to peace in the region.
On Sunday, the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA-TCP) held a virtual summit and issued a statement condemning the Trump administration’s declared intentions to enforce the Monroe Doctrine in the hemisphere.
The regional body likewise condemned recent US hostile actions, including the seizure of a tanker carrying Venezuelan crude last week. The US Treasury Department followed by imposing new sanctions, blacklisting shipping companies allegedly involved in transporting Venezuelan oil.
Venezuela’s state oil company denounced a cyberattack targeting its operational capabilities but stated that its effects had been minimized. According to Bloomberg, the reported attack caused loading delays in Venezuela’s main oil terminal.
The White House has justified its military buildup and coercive measures escalation with “narcoterrorism” charges against Maduro and other top Venezuelan officials. However, US agencies have not provided court-tested evidence to back the claims, while reports from specialized agencies have shown Venezuela to play a marginal role in global drug trafficking.
International leaders and foreign policy analysts have stated that Washington’s ultimate goal is regime change to seize control of Venezuela’s natural resources.
The United States Department of the Treasury has announced new sanctions on several family members and associates of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, as the Trump administration increases pressure on Caracas and continues to build up US forces on Venezuela’s borders.
The sanctions announced on Friday come as the US military continues attacks on boats off the country’s coast, which have killed more than 100 people. The US military has also seized a Venezuelan oil tanker and imposed a naval blockade on all vessels arriving and departing from Venezuelan ports that are under US sanctions.
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Announcing the new sanctions, US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said in a statement that “Maduro and his criminal accomplices threaten our hemisphere’s peace and stability”.
“The Trump Administration will continue targeting the networks that prop up his illegitimate dictatorship,” Bessent added.
The new sanctions target seven people who are family members or associates of Malpica Flores, a nephew of Maduro, and Panamanian businessman Ramon Carretero, who were named in an earlier round of US sanctions that also targeted six Venezuela-flagged oil tankers and shipping firms, on December 11.
Flores, who is one of three of Maduro’s nephews by marriage, dubbed “narco-nephews” by the US Treasury Department, is wanted because he “has been repeatedly linked to corruption at Venezuela’s state-run oil company, Petroleos de Venezuela, SA”, the Treasury said in a statement.
It was not immediately clear how Flores’s role in Venezuela’s state-run oil company related to “propping up Nicolas Maduro’s rogue narco-state”, which Bessent said in his statement was the reason for widening sanctions to additional family members and associates of the president.
The US has claimed that tackling drug trafficking is the primary reason for its military escalation in the region since September, including the strikes on vessels in the eastern Pacific and Caribbean, which international law experts say amount to extrajudicial killings.
Despite the Trump administration’s repeated references to drug trafficking, its actions and messaging appear increasingly focused on Venezuela’s oil reserves, which are the largest in the world. The reserves have remained relatively untapped since sanctions were imposed on the country by the US during the first Trump administration.
Homeland Security adviser and top Trump aide Stephen Miller said last week that Venezuela’s oil belongs to Washington.
“American sweat, ingenuity and toil created the oil industry in Venezuela,” Miller claimed on X. “Its tyrannical expropriation was the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property,” he added.
US sanctions, particularly those targeting Venezuela’s oil industry, have contributed to an economic crisis in the country and increased discontent with Maduro, who has governed Venezuela since 2013.
For his part, Maduro has accused the Trump administration of “fabricating a new eternal war” aimed at “regime change” and seizing Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
The European Union has also imposed targeted sanctions on Venezuela, which it renewed last week until 2027.
The European sanctions, first introduced in 2017, include an embargo on arms shipments to Venezuela, as well as travel bans and asset freezes on individuals linked to state repression.
Weekly insights and analysis on the latest developments in military technology, strategy, and foreign policy.
As military and economic pressure builds on Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro,an E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) aircraft was tracked on FlightRadar24 flying close to the Venezuelan coast. To our knowledge, at least in recent days, these aircraft have not been present on flight tracking software in this increasingly high-activity area. And if they have popped-up, their presence has been impersistent at best. At the same time, E-3s are no stranger to this region though and have played a role in drug interdiction operations for years in this exact area.
🇺🇸🇻🇪⚡️- A U.S. Air force E-3C Sentry, airborne early warning and control aircraft, is currently loitering off the coast of Venezuela. pic.twitter.com/oujrc0CpxA
While E-3s may have been present but not trackable over the Caribbean in recent days, this one being trackable is not a mistake. U.S. military aircraft executing easily trackable sorties very near Venezuelan airspace has been a key component of the pressure campaign placed on Maduro.
The reappearance of the E-3s is a relatively important development, as they would be key to any major kinetic operation against Venezuela. While the carrier-based E-2D Hawkeye, which have been a staple of operations in the area for weeks, is extremely capable, and in some ways more so than the E-3, they are not as well suited for providing airborne early warning, data-sharing and command and control functions for a large and diverse force beyond the carrier air wing. The E-3 also has a higher perch for its radar and passive sensors to take advantage of. It can also better integrate with USAF forces.
Meanwhile, other U.S. combat aircraft made their closest and most sustained publicly-known presence near the northern Venezuelan coast on Thursday. It’s worth mentioning that we do not know how close aircraft with transponders turned off have been getting, as we can only see the flights that are publicly trackable. These missions are part of Operation Southern Spear, a counter-narcotics mission that morphed into one aimed at Maduro and Venezuelan oil, the country’s main source of income.
Amid all this aerial activity, President Donald Trump today said he was open to notifying Congress before a direct attack on Venezuela. His comments to reporters at the White House today came a day after the House of Representatives shot down measures requiring the president to obtain prior permission for such an action.
“I wouldn’t mind telling them,” Trump said when asked if he would seek permission from lawmakers for land and boat attacks against Venezuela. He added that prior notification is not required.
“I don’t have to tell them,” he posited. “It’s been proven, but I wouldn’t mind at all. I just hope they wouldn’t leak it. You know, people leak it. They are politicians, and they leak like a sieve, but I have no problem.”
BREAKING: Reporter: Will you be seeking any authorization from Congress for any land attacks on cartels in Venezuela?
Trump: I don’t have to tell them, but I would not mind it at all. I just hope they would not leak it. They are politicians, and they leak like a sieve. pic.twitter.com/UpFHPtt2vX
Trump’s views on Congressional authority have generated debate on Capitol Hill that broke down almost completely along party lines, with nearly all Republicans in agreement and Democrats opposed.
Under the 1973 War Powers Resolution, the Commander-In-Chief must notify Congress within 48 hours after“introducing United States Armed Forces into hostilities or into situations where imminent involvement is clearly indicated by the circumstances.” The Resolution also says any such actions are limited to 60 days without subsequent Congressional authorization, though the President can extend that timeline by 30 days with a written certification of the need for the continued use of force.
Donald Trump does NOT have the authority to carry out his current plans to use military force in the Caribbean without authorization from Congress.
If he acts without congressional authorization, the Senate will move a bipartisan resolution to prevent the unauthorized use of…
Trump, who ordered a blockade against sanctioned ships carrying oil to and from Venezuela, continues to assert that the U.S. has a right to that oil. On, Wednesday, Trump doubled down on his blockade warning, telling reporters that the U.S. is “not gonna let anybody go through that shouldn’t go through.”
Trump on Venezuela:
It’s a blockade, not gonna let anybody going through that shouldn’t be going through…
The blockade announcement sparked a separate debate in Congress and elsewhere about its legality.
“American presidents have broad discretion to deploy U.S. forces abroad, but Trump’s asserted blockade marks a new test of presidential authority,” international law scholar Elena Chachko of U.C. Berkeley Law School told Reuters.
Meanwhile, Venezuela condemned the blockade and said it would take its case to the United Nations.
Venezuela has released a statement. Here is the English translation of both pages:
On the night of today, December 16, 2025, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, violating International Law, free trade, and freedom of navigation, has issued a reckless and serious… https://t.co/dS3e4Yib1Xpic.twitter.com/Irf9ECnaux
Despite Trump’s pronouncement, several ships carrying oil byproducts from the South American country sailed from Venezuela’s east coast under escort from that country’s Navy “between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning,” The New York Times reported.
“The ships transporting urea, petroleum coke and other oil-based products from the Port of José were bound for Asian markets,” per that story, citing anonymous sources. “The Venezuelan government imposed the military escort in response to Mr. Trump’s threats.”
🇻🇪🇺🇸 Venezuela’s government has ordered its Navy to escort ships carrying petroleum products from port following Trump’s blockade announcement.
Several ships sailed from the country’s east coast with a naval escort between Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, according to… pic.twitter.com/xY9huYtMqa
— Status-6 (Military & Conflict News) (@Archer83Able) December 17, 2025
The blockade announcement came after the U.S. government had already seized one sanctioned oil tanker, the M/T Skipper. That mission, which occurred on December 10, was led by the U.S. Coast Guard with elements of the U.S. military providing support.
Today, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Homeland Security Investigations, and the United States Coast Guard, with support from the Department of War, executed a seizure warrant for a crude oil tanker used to transport sanctioned oil from Venezuela and Iran. For multiple… pic.twitter.com/dNr0oAGl5x
A U.S. Sailor directs an F/A-18F Super Hornet onto a catapult during flight operations aboard the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), while underway in the Caribbean Sea in support of Operation Southern Spear (U.S. Navy photo) Petty Officer 3rd Class Gladjimi Balisage
The presence of aerial refueling tankers is also growing. KC-46 Pegasus tankers have been flying sorties out of the U.S. Virgin Islands for months, with a ramp-up in activity in recent weeks. There are now at least 10 KC-135 Stratotanker refuelers deployed to the Dominican Republic.
While these assets, along with about 15,000 deployed U.S. troops, are capable of limited sustained operations, it is far from the force that would be required for a land invasion or any large ground operation in Venezuela.
US Air Force KC-135 tankers forward deployed in the US Southern Command area of responsibility. USAF
Since September, U.S. military operations in the Caribbean Sea, as well as the Eastern Pacific, have already included nearly two dozen strikes on boats allegedly involved in drug smuggling. The first of these strikes, which came on September 2, has become the focus of particular controversy, including allegations that it may have constituted a war crime.
The Sept. 2 incidenthas spurred numerous Congressional briefings, but on Wednesday, the Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Mike Rogers, an Alabama Republican, said he was satisfied by testimony about that strike and that no further hearings would be held. It is unclear if there will be other Congressional action, though, since the Senate Armed Services Committee has also been investigating the matter.
The boat attacks continued on Wednesday, with another four suspected traffickers killed, bringing the total number of fatalities to about 100.
On Dec. 17, at the direction of @SecWar Pete Hegseth, Joint Task Force Southern Spear conducted a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by a Designated Terrorist Organizations in international waters. Intelligence confirmed that the vessel was transiting along a known… pic.twitter.com/Yhu3LSOyea
Amid all this tension, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva offered to serve as an intermediary between Trump and Maduro to “avoid armed conflict.”
Lula told reporters on Thursday that Brazil was “very worried” about the mounting crisis between Venezuela and the United States. He added that he told Trump that “things wouldn’t be resolved by shooting, that it was better to sit down around a table to find a solution.”
The Brazilian leader suggested that he may speak to Trump again before Christmas to reinforce this offer “so that we can have a diplomatic agreement and not a fratricidal war.”
“I am at the disposal of both Venezuela and the US to contribute to a peaceful solution on our continent.”
🇧🇷🇺🇸🇻🇪 | Lula da Silva: “Estoy pensando que, antes de Navidad, posiblemente tenga que conversar con el presidente Trump otra vez, para saber en que puede contribuir Brasil para que tengamos un acuerdo diplomático y no una guerra fraticida”
US President Donald Trump has said the US owns rights to Venezuelan oil and land. The claims follow the US seizure of Venezuelan oil and the declaration of a naval blockade. But is any of this true? Soraya Lennie explains.
MEXICO CITY — President Trump has ordered a partial blockade on oil tankers going to and from Venezuela, potentially crippling the nation’s already battered economy, and accused Caracas of stealing “oil, land other assets” from the United States — a significant escalation of Washington’s unrelenting campaign against the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
Asked about Venezuela on Wednesday, Trump said the United States will be “getting land, oil rights and whatever we had.”
“We want it back,” Trump said without further elaboration. It was unclear if Trump planned to say more about Venezuela in a televised address to the nation late Wednesday night.
The blockade, which aims to cripple the key component of Venezuela’s faltering, oil-dependent economy, comes as the Trump administration has bolstered military forces in the Caribbean, blown up more than two dozen boats allegedly ferrying illicit drugs in both the Caribbean and the Pacific, and threatened military strikes on Venezuela and neighboring Colombia.
“Venezuela is completely surrounded by the largest Armada ever assembled in the History of South America,” Trump said in a rambling post Tuesday night on his Truth Social site. “It will only get bigger, and the shock to them will be like nothing they have ever seen before.”
Not long after Trump announced the blockade Tuesday night, the government of Venezuela denounced the move and other Trump efforts as an attempt to “rob the riches that belong to our people.”
Leaders of other Latin American nations called for calm and United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, after a phone call with Maduro, called on U.N. members to “exert restraint and de-escalate tensions to preserve regional stability.”
Also Wednesday, Trump received rare pushback from the Republican-dominated Congress, where some lawmakers are pressuring the administration to disclose more information about its deadly attacks on alleged drug boats.
The Senate gave final approval to a $900-billion defense policy package that, among other things, would require the administration to disclose to lawmakers specific orders behind the boat strikes along with unedited videos of the deadly attacks. If the administration does not comply, the bill would withhold a quarter of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget.
The bill’s passage came a day after Hegseth and Secretary Marco Rubio came to Capitol Hill to brief lawmakers on the U.S. military campaign. The briefings left lawmakers with mixed reaction, largely with Republicans backing the campaign and Democrats expressing concern about it.
The White House has said its military campaign in Venezuela is meant to curb drug trafficking, but the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration data shows that Venezuela is a relatively minor player in the U.S.-bound drug trade.
Trump also declared that the South American country had been designated a “foreign terrorist organization.” That would apparently make Venezuela the first nation ever slapped with a classification normally reserved for armed groups deemed hostile to the United States or its allies. The consequences remain unclear for Venezuela.
Regional responses to the Trump threats highlight the new ideological fault lines in Latin America, where right-wing governments in recent years have won elections in Chile, Argentina and Ecuador.
The leftist leaders of the region’s two most populous nations — Brazil and Mexico — have called for restraint in Venezuela.
“Whatever one thinks about the Venezuelan government or the presidency of Maduro, the position of Mexico should always be: No to intervention, no to foreign meddling,” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said Wednesday, calling on the United Nations to look for a peaceful solution and avoid any bloodshed.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has also urged Trump to pull back from confrontation. “The power of the word can outweigh the power of the gun,” Lula said he told Trump recently, offering to facilitate talks with the Maduro government.
But Chile’s right-wing president-elect, José Antonio Kast, said he supports regime-change in Venezuela, asserting that it would reduce migration from Venezuela to other nations in the region.
“If someone is going to do it, let’s be clear that it solves a gigantic problem for us and all of Latin America, all of South America, and even for countries in Europe,” Kast said, referring to Venezuelan immigration.
In his Tuesday post, Trump said he had ordered a “complete blockade of all sanctioned oil tankers going into, and out of, Venezuela.” While potentially devastating to Venezuela’s economy, the fact that the blockade will only affect tankers already sanctioned by U.S. authorities does give Venezuela some breathing room, at least for now.
Experts estimated that only between one-third and one-half of tankers transporting crude to and from Venezuela are likely part of the so-called “dark fleet” of sanctioned tankers. The ships typically ferry crude from Venezuela and Iran, two nations under heavy U.S. trade and economic bans.
However, experts said that even a partial blockade will be a major hit for Venezuela’s feeble economy, reeling under more than a decade of of U.S. penalties. And Washington can continue adding to the list of sanctioned tankers.
“The United States can keep sanctioning more tankers, and that would leave Venezuela with almost no income,” said David A. Smilde, a Venezuela expert at Tulane University. “That would probably cause a famine in the country.”
The growing pressure, analysts said, will likely mean the diminishing number of firms willing to take the risk of transporting Venezuelan crude will up their prices, putting more pressure on Caracas. Purchasers in China and elsewhere will also likely demand price cuts to buy Venezuelan oil.
Trump has said that Maduro must go because he is a “narco-terrorist” and heads the “Cartel de los Soles,” which the While House calls is a drug-trafficking syndicate. Trump has put a $50 million bounty on Maduro’s head. Experts say that Cartel de los Soles is not a functioning cartel, but a short-hand term for Venezuelan military officers who have been involved in the drug trade for decades, long before Maduro or his predecessor and mentor, the late Hugo Chávez, took office.
In his comments on Tuesday, Trump denounced the nationalization of the Venezuelan oil industry, a process that began in the 1970s, when Caracas was a strong ally of Washington.
Echoing Trump’s point that Venezuela “stole” U.S. assets was Stephen Miller, Trump’s homeland security advisor, who declared on X: “American sweat, ingenuity and toil created the oil industry in Venezuela. Its tyrannical expropriation was the largest recorded theft of American wealth and property.”
Among those believed to be driving Trump’s efforts to oust Maduro is Secretary of State Maro Rubio, the son of Cuban immigrants to Florida. Rubio has long been an outspoken opponent of the communist governments in Havana and Caracas. Venezuelan oil has helped the economies of left-wing governments in both Cuba and Nicaragua.
Christopher Sabatini, a senior fellow for Latin America at Chatham House, said Rubio has been on a long-time campaign to remove Maduro.”He has his own political project,” Sabatini said. “He wants to get rid of the dictators in Venezuela and Cuba.”
Staff writers McDonnell and Linthicum reported from Mexico City and Ceballos from Washington. Contributing was special correspondent Mery Mogollón in Caracas.
President Maduro’s rival was hurt as she sped on a boat through choppy waters in secret escape from hiding to reach Oslo ceremony.
Published On 16 Dec 202516 Dec 2025
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Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado was injured as she made a clandestine dash to collect her Nobel Peace Prize last week, her spokesperson has said.
Claudia Macero said late on Monday that the right-wing opposition figure fractured a vertebra during a choppy boat ride that had formed part of a risky cloak-and-dagger journey to reach the Norwegian capital, Oslo, for the Nobel award ceremony.
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Machado has been in hiding since she was banned from running in Venezuela’s July 24 presidential election, fearing that her life is under threat from long-time Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
“The vertebra fracture is confirmed,” Macero told the AFP news agency, adding that no further details would be released beyond what had been reported in the Norwegian daily Aftonbladet.
The newspaper had earlier reported that the 58-year-old Machado sustained the fracture while crossing the sea in a small fishing boat battered by high waves.
The opposition leader was examined by doctors at Oslo University Hospital during her time in the city.
Dangerous dash
Media reports in the United States said Machado’s escape last week involved wearing a disguise, including a wig, and travelling from a small Venezuelan fishing village on a wooden boat to the island of Curacao, before boarding a private plane to Norway.
Machado has said she feared for her life during the voyage, which saw US forces situated in the Caribbean alerted to avoid a strike on the vessel.
Several similar boats have been attacked in recent months in a campaign that the Trump administration asserts is a bid to avert drug smuggling into the US.
Maduro has accused Washington of seeking to engineer regime change in the hope of seizing Venezuela’s large oil reserves.
The leader of the opposition Vente Venezuela party was attempting to reach the ceremony at which she was due to be presented with the Nobel Peace Prize.
She was announced the winner of the prestigious award in October, with the selection committee praising her role in the country’s opposition movement and her “steadfast” support for democracy.
‘Broken soul’
Despite her speedy trip, Machado failed to reach Oslo in time for the ceremony. Her daughter received the award on her behalf and delivered a speech that slammed Maduro and warned of the need to fight for democracy.
Hours after the ceremony, early on Thursday morning, Machado greeted supporters from an Oslo hotel balcony in what was her first public appearance in a year.
Despite the fracture, she climbed over a barrier to greet supporters outside the hotel, AFP reported.
Machado said authorities in Venezuela would have attempted everything possible to prevent her journey to Norway.
Appearing set to challenge Maduro in the vote, the opposition leader was barred from running in the country’s presidential election in July last year.
She then announced that she would be going into hiding within Venezuela due to fear for her life while Maduro is in power.
The Venezuelan president commented dismissively on the reports of Machado’s injury on television on Monday.
Machado “says she has a broken vertebra”, he said. “What’s broken is her brain and her soul because she’s a demon – she hates Venezuela.”
