Newsweek: 3 Signs of Imminent War Between the United States and Venezuela

The deployment of warships off the coast of Venezuela by the administration of US President Donald Trump and the intensification of political and economic pressure on the government of President Nicolás Maduro are indications of the imminent imminence of a possible military confrontation between the United States and Venezuela.

The move is part of a broader push to reassert US influence in the Western Hemisphere, with Washington reaffirming its commitment to reviving and implementing the James Monroe Doctrine, which considers the region a traditional US sphere of influence.

There are three indications that an imminent war could break out between the United States and Venezuela at any moment, the first of which is the US move from imposing sanctions to seizing Venezuelan oil tankers, which has sparked sharp tension in the shipping sector, which Nicolás Maduro has described as acts of international piracy.

In a second indicator, Washington has stepped up its military operations in the Caribbean under the pretext of fighting drug trafficking, operations that have resulted in dozens of deaths and sparked human rights criticism, while the US administration has confirmed that its targeting a regime that officials accuse of flooding the United States with drugs, the magazine reported.

At the same time, there has been a marked increase in aircraft traffic and US air and sea deployment near Venezuela, according to the Newsweek magazine.

This included advanced fighters, strategic bombers and aircraft carriers, as well as drills simulating strikes on targets inside Venezuelan territory, in one of the largest deployments in the region in years.

Observers see this crowd as a reflection of Washington’s running out of patience with Maduro and its approach to sharper options, with Foreign Relations Council Chairman Michael Foreman writing in an analysis last week that the president’s tolerance for Maduro appears to be increasingly waning.

The Venezuelan leadership, on the other hand, stressed its readiness to defend the country’s sovereignty and resources, and announced the strengthening of the army, in what appears to be a third sign that war is imminent.

Venezuela stressed that the real goal of the US moves is to overthrow the government and control Venezuelan oil, in an exchange of threats and military and political escalation, which increases fears that the crisis will slide into an open confrontation that could have broad repercussions on Latin America’s security and stability.