Description: Venezuelan President, Nicolas Maduro, announced that the country’s Defense Ministry would dispatch navy ships and up to 15 thousand troops in the regions mostly affected by illegal drug trade on the border with Colombia. The troops and naval assets would focus on operations in the Zulia and Tachira states, near the Colombian border where recently illicit drug trade levels have spiraled. Defense minister, Vladimir Padrino Lopez, announced that the plan was a response to the US deployment of significant military assets in the region which are closing in on the Caribbean nation. Maduro earlier announced that Venezuela would also mobilize its national militia of 4.5 million volunteers in order to bolster the domestic security apparatus. Maduro accused the Trump administration of inciting divisions within his country and calling for the establishment’s toppling after the US doubled the reward price for information that could lead to Maduro’s arrest to $50 million.
Impact: Venezuela’s mirroring of US military activities in the region considerably raises bilateral tensions in the already destabilized northern parts of the South American continent. The US current military posturing signals the prioritization the Trump administration has accentuated on combating the drug cartels, however, under the current conditions it doesn’t indicate a significant threat to Venezuela’s government and its leadership. The move is aimed at raising the pressure on South American countries such as Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico in elevating their operations targeting cartels which have been designated as terrorist organizations by the US government in recent months. The US actions might also pressure the drug cartels to pursue alternative logistical solutions, and it also might cause internal confliction which could lead to severe deterioration of the security situation in Venezuela and Colombia.