DONALD Trump has stepped squarely onto a war footing, declaring Operation Southern Spear as senior military officials warn he could order strikes on Venezuela “in the coming days”.
Washington is now giving clear signs that the window for tyrant Nicolás Maduro is closing fast, and the US is now openly preparing for confrontation.
CBS News reports that senior military officials, led by Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine, walked Trump through fresh strike options on Wednesday — including land attacks — in a highly classified White House session.
Sources told the network that no final decision has been made, but the planning is real, active and accelerating.
The intel community fed into those plans, though DNI Tulsi Gabbard was abroad.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio was also out of the country.
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The vacuum only heightened the sense that momentum is building behind the scenes.
Outside the briefing room, the hardware is already in place.
The USS Gerald Ford, America’s largest and most advanced carrier, has shifted into US Southern Command’s area of responsibility.
It joins destroyers, warplanes, special operations teams and F-35s already forward-positioned, in a flotilla meant for war.
Washington has also been busy flexing its firepower as American forces have already hit at least 21 alleged narco-trafficking vessels in two months.
The strikes killed more than 80 people across the Caribbean and eastern Pacific.
Two survivors were repatriated, and one was released for lack of evidence.
Hegseth, speaking at a defense summit in Indiana, made clear the administration sees these strikes as a preview of what comes next.
He said: “My advice to foreign terrorist organizations is do not get in a boat.
“If you’re trafficking drugs… we will find you and we will kill you.”
Hours later, Hegseth put a name to the campaign.
“President Trump ordered action — and the Department of War is delivering,” he posted on X.
“Today, I’m announcing Operation SOUTHERN SPEAR… this mission defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland… The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood – and we will protect it.”
The revival of the long-retired “Department of War” label was no accident, indicating that the administration sees this as a raw contest of force, not diplomacy.
US officials say Southern Spear aims to dismantle the cartel-militia networks that Washington argues sustain Maduro’s grip on power.
Maduro mobilises troops
Caracas, meanwhile, is scrambling.
Venezuela’s military launched its largest drill in years, with 200,000 troops deployed nationwide, as the US Navy edged closer to its shores.
Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino accused Washington of carrying out extrajudicial killings at sea.
“They are murdering defenseless people… executing them without due process,” he said on state TV.
Dictator Maduro is painting the US posture as a prelude to regime change.
Padrino warned that any US assault would meet a “community united to defend this nation, to the death.”
Colombia’s left-wing president Gustavo Petro went further – halting intelligence sharing with the US as long as the boat strikes continue, calling them illegal and harmful to human rights.
Trump’s options
Behind the scenes, aides have been weighing everything from long-range strikes to special operations raids aimed at Maduro’s inner circle, though his loyalists make that a high-risk gamble.
Covert action is already authorised, but experts say there’s no insurgency waiting to rise up.
And while a full-scale invasion exists on paper, it’s viewed as politically radioactive and militarily punishing in a country as vast and fortified as Venezuela.
Trump has not tipped his hand. But with the Ford carrier strike group in position and Operation Southern Spear formally launched, Washington has made it clear it is prepared to hit hard, and soon.
