The United States has ruled out deploying ground troops in Venezuela, following the abduction of President Nicolas Maduro. According to US national security officials, the White House does not plan to send troops, despite President Donald Trump’s earlier threats of further military action.
The US sparked international outrage on Saturday with a special forces raid on Caracas, seizing Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, who were later indicted in New York on drug trafficking charges. Caracas condemned the operation as an “imperialist attack,” while Trump defended it on security grounds, citing the Monroe Doctrine. The doctrine frames Latin America as Washington’s sphere of influence.
Trump had stated that he was prepared to deploy additional forces and “do a second strike” if interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez failed to cooperate with Washington. However, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio informed lawmakers at a closed-door Senate briefing that the White House does not intend to deploy ground troops. They noted that US naval forces, comprising a dozen warships and around 15,000 personnel, will remain positioned around Venezuela indefinitely.
The briefing occurred amid a series of aggressive proposals from Trump, which he claimed would secure the Western Hemisphere. Following the Caracas raid, he renewed calls to take over Greenland from Denmark and threatened Mexico, Colombia, and Cuba with possible military action. Hegseth avoided addressing further deployments in Venezuela but stated that the US military would continue to apply “leverage,” pointing to the seizure of two oil tankers under a blockade of Venezuelan oil exports.
The US Senate is set to vote on a bipartisan war powers resolution aimed at blocking further military action against Venezuela without congressional approval. Similar measures are being prepared for Cuba, Mexico, Colombia, Nigeria, and Greenland. The development comes as the international community continues to monitor the situation in Venezuela, with many nations condemning the US raid as a violation of sovereignty. The outcome of the Senate vote will be closely watched, as it may impact the trajectory of US-Venezuela relations and the broader geopolitical landscape in the region.
