What To Know

The Miami Herald’s report came after The Wall Street Journal wrote on Thursday that the Trump administration had identified targets within Venezuela, including military facilities allegedly used to traffic drugs into the U.S., according to officials.

These targets, according to the newspaper, lay at the intersection between Maduro’s leadership and Venezuela’s drug-trafficking network. On Friday, the Miami Herald reported that sources refused to say whether Maduro was a target of the alleged incoming strikes, but said that his position is becoming increasingly untenable.

“Maduro is about to find himself trapped and might soon discover that he cannot flee the country even if he decided to,” the source said, according to the Miami Herald. “What’s worse for him, there is now more than one general willing to capture and hand him over, fully aware that one thing is to talk about death, and another to see it coming.”

Trinidad and Tobago's Concerns

The Trump administration has strongly rejected the Miami Herald’s claims that air strikes into Venezuela were incoming. “Your ‘sources’ claiming to have ‘knowledge of the situation’ tricked you into writing a fake story,” Rubio wrote on X.

Rubio did not comment on the Washington Post’s additional reporting, which clarified that Trump had not made a final decision “on ordering ground bombings.”

The news, however, threw residents of Trinidad and Tobago into a panic, according to local reports. Elements of the country’s news media wrote of panic-shopping among residents on Friday night, with long queues at the supermarkets and gas stations.

In the country’s capital, Port of Spain, Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar reassured residents saying she had received no intelligence reports of any planned military strike in the region.

Residents of Trinidad and Tobago have already been upset by the U.S. military buildup around the island state, which is relatively close to Venezuela, sitting less than 50 km from the coast.

The arrival of a U.S. warship—the USS Gravely, a guided-missile destroyer—at Port of Spain last Sunday caused concerns among residents that they might soon find themselves in the line of fire between the U.S. and Venezuela.

The U.S. embassy on the island nation announced on October 24 that the Gravely would visit Trinidad and Tobago at the end of October, while the “22nd U.S. Marine Expeditionary Unit will train alongside the Trinidad and Tobago Defense Force (TTDF) during the same week”.

The U.S. military services’ presence on the island is “part of the longstanding cooperation between the United States and Trinidad and Tobago,” the embassy added.

Newsweek contacted Persad-Bissessar's office and the U.S. Department of State for comment by email on Saturday.

What People Are Saying

Trinidad and Tobago resident Daniel Holder told the AFP news agency last week: “If anything should happen with Venezuela and America, we as people who live on the outskirts of it [...] could end up getting a lash any time. I am against my country being part of this.”

Persad-Bissessar told reporters on Friday, as reported by the Trinidad Express: “There is a lot of speculation, not just here locally, everywhere. I mean it’s a situation that really demands everybody’s attention; we will keep our ears and eyes peeled and act when we see it’s appropriate.

“We have been receiving intelligence reports and thus far, I have none that there is an imminent strike anywhere in the region. Be calm, there’s nothing to fear at this time. I cannot predict the future, but on my cards, my books, there is nothing to fear. At this point in time, we have no cause for concern. If and when that happens, I will share it with you as soon as it comes to me.”

Trump told reporters on Friday after being asked about whether he was considering striking targets on the ground in Venezuela: “No. No, certainly not.”
What Happens Next

While both Trump and Rubio have denied allegations that the administration was getting ready to strike Venezuelan targets, the U.S. military presence in the Caribbean is expected to increase in coming weeks, with the arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group to Latin America.

“The enhanced U.S. force presence in the US SOUTHCOM AOR will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell posted on X.

Why is newsweek sensationalist drivel?

>>1454248
depends how you define sensationalism

>>1454250
>explodes into a chaotic panic
This is sensationalist.

>>1454227
>a U.S. newspaper reported that the U.S. was poised to strike military targets in Venezuela
Maybe U.S. newspapers should stop reporting on speculation and stick to the facts

>>1454257
>information it said it obtained from sources with knowledge of the situation.

>>1454258
>Trust me Bro

>>1454259
Yes.

>>1454227
If Trump is after the producers of drugs like Fentanyl, why isnt he going after the major producers, China and Mexico. Going after a small country like Venezuala makes it look like he is only after their oil (the largest reserves in the world) and is just making up some shit excuses to do so. Has Putin been giving him tips? Invent a threat so he can invade and steal their stuff?

>>1454275
Venezuela literally does not and cannot produce Fent. Only Cartels in Mexico/associates in China can. Trump tried pivoting into talking about how much cocaine they produce but that's definitely at the back of everyone's minds when it comes to drugs menacing the US right now.

>>1454275
>why isnt he going after the major producers, China and Mexico.
He is going after Mexico. He designated all of their cartels as international terrorists

>>1454286
Then why is he only bombing Venezuelan boats and sending US troops and carriers to Venezuela?

>>1454291
They were until it got cracked down on and the people responsible started instead focusing on producing in Mexico.

>>1454251
>The news, however, threw residents of Trinidad and Tobago into a panic, according to local reports. Elements of the country’s news media wrote of panic-shopping among residents on Friday night, with long queues at the supermarkets and gas stations.
That’s altogether sensational being a thing that is out of the ordinary and causing a heightened emotional state amongst people, there’s certainly a chaotic nature to panic buying

Good. Pedocrats of course have a problem with it because they hate America and want more drugs in the country

>>1454297
If there was real panic then it lasted less than a day according to this jewbook post, the reports are overblown
https://www.jewbook.com/ExpressNewspapers/posts/the-panic-buying-at-groceries-long-lines-at-gas-stations-early-work-stoppages-to/1239917121499823/

>>1454302
Nobody claimed the panic shopping was sustained only that it did happen

>>1454304
More like newsweek's lazy clickbait directly copied native Trinidadian clickbait

>>1454302
>the reports are overblown
Many such cases.