US Warships Steam Toward Venezuela as Trump Escalates Fight Against Cartels
Three Aegis guided-missile destroyers (USS Gravely, USS Jason Dunham, and USS Sampson) to be deployed off the coast of Venezuela for “several months.”
It’s been a while since I did an update on America’s fentanyl crisis.
Today’s update is a big one.
The U.S. is deploying three Aegis guided-missile destroyers (USS Gravely, USS Jason Dunham, and USS Sampson) to waters off the coast of Venezuela. They are expected to arrive within the next 36 hours as part of a major counter-narcotics operation targeting Latin American drug cartels, specifically those involved in transporting fentanyl and cocaine.
A separate U.S. official told Reuters that in total, about 4,000 sailors and Marines are expected to be committed to the Trump administration’s efforts in the southern Caribbean region.
That U.S. official, who was speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the additional commitment of military assets in the broader region would include several P-8 spy planes, warships and at least one attack submarine.
The official said the process would be ongoing for several months and the plan was for them to operate in international airspace and international waters.
The naval assets can be used to not just carry out intelligence and surveillance operations, but also as a launching pad for targeted strikes if a decision is made, the official added.
In a statement on the deployment, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called out the Maduro regime as a “Nacro terror cartel.” Additionally, it appears that those ships are preparing to stay for several months.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt responded to a question about the reported deployment during Tuesday’s press briefing, saying, in part, “The president is prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice. The Maduro regime is not the legitimate government—it is a Nacro terror cartel.”
A separate Defense Department official confirmed that the U.S. Navy ships had been assigned to the mission in support of counternarcotics operations. That official, who also requested anonymity, said the vessels would be deployed “over the course of several months.”
Whoa… The US currently has warships and 4,000 marines on rout to Venezuela
Karoline Leavitt says the Venezuelan President is not the legitimate president and is a Narco Terrorist.. wanted for trafficking drugs into the United Stateshttps://t.co/Y8rb66Y4hI pic.twitter.com/5KeYk4qxnf
— MJTruthUltra (@MJTruthUltra) August 19, 2025
Maduro, who was indicted in a federal court on charges of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine, threatened to call up the Venezuelan militia.
On Monday, Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said the U.S. had increased its threats against Venezuela and announced he was going to order the deployment of more than 4.5 million militia members around the country. The militias were created by then-President Hugo Chávez to incorporate volunteers who could assist the armed forces in the defense of external and domestic attacks.
“The empire has gone mad and has renewed its threats to Venezuela’s peace and tranquility,” Maduro said at an event in Caracas, without mentioning any specific action.
Earlier this month, the Trump government announced it was doubling to $50 million a reward for the arrest of Maduro, accusing him of being one of the world’s largest narco-traffickers and working with cartels to flood the U.S. with fentanyl-laced cocaine.
Maduro was indicted in a New York federal court in 2020, during the first Trump presidency, along with several close allies on federal charges of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine. Back then, the U.S. offered a $15 million reward for his arrest.
As U.S. warships approach Caribbean waters, Maduro mobilizes 4.5 million militias https://t.co/NY2XmelIp9
— Miami Herald (@MiamiHerald) August 20, 2025
As a reminder, Maduro had threatened neighboring Guyana with his militia to confiscate that nation’s oil fields in 2023. Not only did Guyana retain its oil fields, but its oil sector has rapidly expanded in this, with ExxonMobil and partners recently bringing the Yellowtail project online.
ExxonMobil Guyana started production today at Yellowtail, the fourth oil development in Guyana’s offshore Stabroek block. Yellowtail’s ONE GUYANA floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel joins the Destiny, Unity, and Prosperity FPSOs, bringing total installed capacity in Guyana to above 900,000 barrels of oil per day.
“Yellowtail’s ahead-of-schedule startup is a significant milestone for ExxonMobil and the people of Guyana,” said Dan Ammann, president of ExxonMobil Upstream Company. “With Guyanese making up more than 67% of the country’s oil-and-gas workforce and over 2,000 local businesses engaged, this project reflects our deepening roots in the country and our shared commitment to long-term, inclusive growth.”
It looks like Guyana’s oil will be safe from Maduro’s militia for a bit longer, as it’s going to be very busy soon.
Godspeed to the crews of USS Gravely, USS Jason Dunham, and USS Sampson.
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Comments
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The Maduro regime is not the legitimate government—it is a Nacro terror cartel.
Well, they actually are the government, and that makes them legitimate. Of course, that doesn’t make them NOT a terror cartel.
I guess he wants to make the War On Drugs a real war. Given those P-8s being involved, I hope the few Venezuelan pilots left in their military are better than the Chinese ones harassing our planes over there.
Two related points.
1. Vae Victus
2. The victors write the history of the events.
All of this visible display is fine and may be needed but they won’t stop the cartels. I do hope that under the radar, US Special Forces have been recruiting and training for covert missions deep inside the necessary countries to take out cartel leadership structures. Even the cartel king pins like to stay alive.
Locate their homes and send missiles followed by dropping fuel air bombs. Seize financial assets. Seize their pleasure boats, blow up the apartments where they stash their mistresses. Hit their visible lifestyle until they are stuck in a bunker sweating out when they get discovered. No whining with BS that ‘the family or mistress was innocent’…they ain’t innocent b/c they know exactly where the $ comes from to provide for them all the way down to the lady who grooms his dogs or the guy who does landscaping… they know how they get paid and stayed despite their knowledge.
*unless they are sex trafficked “mistresses”
You should read Tom Clancy’s Clear and Present Danger.
not against this move but what about the blue cities in the usa that are the drug pushers and the friendly to criminals paradise that need to be shut down
start with defunding them
I JUST READ WHERE HARD LEFTY IL GOV PRICKZER is not going to bailout the chicago teacher unions….at least for right now
20% of the customers make up 50% of the revenue.
Take those customers and the next echelon up the customer list out of circulation and distribution becomes far less profitable. Blue states with open air drug markets don’t exactly scream “war on drugs”
We must deploy every resource to make street drugs less lethal for America’s shiftless hopheads.
I would not mind if the US were to bust some Maduro ass in a big way. Put the cartels and the world on notice that America is not accepting untaxed imports any longer no matter the vector.
Good. The time of the vile Dhimmi-crats’ feckless and meek appeasement of and enabling of narco-terrorist, communist and Islamofascist terrorist regimes is over.
I am reminded of Manuel Noriega.
Killing Pablo… that did the trick.. right?
Three destroyers and an attack sub is overkill given the opposition, Not sure what they are expected to do.
The real problem with drugs is not the supply but the demand, If there weren;t a demand for the drugs there wouldn;t be a supply and the fact that they are illegal is what makes it so lucrative for the cartel and anyone else involved in the selling of them, I’m not sure how at all you fix this problem. It might be intrinsic in humans.
Leslie,
Given LI’s orientation, I think it’s just sloppy cut and paste on your part as well as weak reporting by Newsweek:
“In a statement on the deployment, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt called out the Maduro regime as a “Nacro terror cartel.”
she did no such think in her oral remarks, she is heard to say clearly “NARCO” NOT “NACRO”
Drill SGT:
Normally, I make spelling corrections when they are politely suggested. However, in this case, I have decided to respond to you more robustly.
I don’t know if you are aware of this, but everyone on the Legal Insurrection has a job and family. Last night, when I prepared a series of posts in support of our website. I had just completed an 8-hour day dealing with technical work on my day job, fed my husband and my cat, then proceeded to spend 3 hour of intense writing to make sure our LI friends had some interesting news related to science/tech…and, in this case, one of my other beats – the drug market.
I am sorry my fatigue-induced dyslexia upset you. However, I think most readers got the gist, so I am going to keep the spelling as is.
I appreciate the help of LI friends, I do not appreciate the remarks of grammar nazis or people who belittle me to make themselves feel superior.
So, I hope you enjoyed your judgement. However, I hope others appreciate the enormous time and energy sacrifice each one of the members of the LI team make to bring you the best news analysis possible of the subjects of which we have experience and are of interest to you.
I am proud to be part of a team that is killing DEI and CRT. Furthermore, I am grateful my work has helped contribute to the end of climate grift and pandemic fear-mongering.
So, maybe in the future, when you want to point out a spelling error, you might want to keep all of this information in mind.