Venezuela Deploys 15,000 Forces to Border as Nicolás Maduro Warns of Alleged U.S. Invasion

by Frances Martel

State media in Venezuela reported on Tuesday that dictator Nicolás Maduro had deployed 15,000 security operatives to the nation’s border with Colombia, allegedly to fight narco-terrorist organizations.

The deployment of security personnel under Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López occurs after President Donald Trump approved the deployment of American military assets to the southern Caribbean Sea this month to address drug trafficking in the region — much of which, the U.S. government affirms, occurs under the auspices of the Venezuelan government. Maduro himself, for which America is offering a $50 million bounty, is believed to be a senior leader in the Cartel de los Soles (“Cartel of the Suns”), an intercontinental cocaine trafficking syndicate run by the Venezuelan military.

“The Maduro regime is not the legitimate government of Venezuela. It is a narco-terror cartel,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters last week.

Maduro and his henchmen have aggressively denied any association with drug trafficking, refuting extensive evidence that it also benefits from links to narco-terror groups operative in Latin America such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and Hezbollah. Maduro has instead accused the Trump administration of using drug trafficking as an excuse to plot an alleged coup d’etat against his illegitimate regime.

The Venezuelan state news network VTV described the deployment of the alleged 15,000 “security personnel” as part of a larger initiative the regime branded “Operation Catatumbo Lightning,” named after a unique natural phenomenon in the country responsible for a semi-permanent lightning storm over Lake Maracaibo. The troops would deploy, VTV reported, to Táchira and Zulia states in western Venezuela, near the border with Colombia.

“Today, we will reinforce with 15,000 ground forces on a front… that represents 851 kilometers [521 miles] of the 2,219 kilometers [1,379 miles] of border with Colombia,” Padrino announced. Those troops would join 60 “rapid response units” in Zulia and Táchira meant to combat and national security threats, as well as the deployment of naval fleets and drones.

Padrino’s confirmation of the deployment followed Maduro announcing the measure on Monday, asserting that the “personnel” in question were heavily armed men to reinforce the border.

“15,000 well-armed, well-trained, and well-prepared men and women will go to reinforce the binational zone,” Maduro announced on state television, according to the Agence France-Presse (AFP). The dictator emphasized that, according to him, Venezuela was “free of cocaine.”

full story at https://www.breitbart.com/latin-america/2025/08/27/venezuela-deploys-15000-forces-to-border-as-nicolas-maduro-warns-of-alleged-u-s-invasion/

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