Venezuela announces military maneuvers in the Caribbean

Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López announced Wednesday the development of a three-day military exercise with land, air, and sea maneuvers that will mobilize 2,500 soldiers from the Joint Task Force of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces on the island of La Orchila in the Venezuelan Caribbean. The exercise, dubbed Caribe Soberano (Sovereign Caribbean) 200, “seeks to strengthen defensive capabilities and protect national sovereignty,” according to the minister. The announcement comes amid deep bilateral tensions, with explicit threats from the U.S. government to Chavismo and Nicolás Maduro and accusations of drug trafficking and the illegitimacy of the Venezuelan president’s mandate.

Padrino stated that the entire operation is a response to “the threatening and vulgar deployment of U.S. ships in the Caribbean,” which the Bolivarian establishment considers “a threat to the country and the region.” The deployment of 12 warships, 22 aircraft, 20 small naval militia boats and various artillery pieces was reported.

Padrino commented that the Caribe Soberano 200 military maneuvers, designed to gauge the country’s military capacity in a conflict scenario, “are a fairly comprehensive exercise.” It reportedly involves special forces, intelligence, and aerospace forces; the use of armed, surveillance, and artillery-equipped aerial drones; electronic warfare strategies; anti-aircraft emplacements and ZU systems; amphibious landings with combat vehicles; beachhead assult; and artillery fire.

“In this special situation, we must redouble our efforts and increase our operational readiness for a scenario of armed conflict at sea. And we are doing so,” added Padrino, who at all times claimed to be receiving instructions from Maduro.

“The people, the Armed Forces, and the political leadership. All of this has been strengthened in recent days in response to the foreign military threat,” he added. “This exercise is one of those expressions; the deployment of Rapid Reaction Units throughout the country; the work we are doing to combat drug trafficking in the western part of the binational zone with Colombia.”

These exercises come after the unprecedented escalation of military and political tensions between the United States and Venezuela, and after Donald Trump claimed U.S. forces had destroyed three Venezuelan drug trafficking vessels on the high seas.

La Orchila, covering 43 square kilometers (16.6 square miles), is one of the 300 islands belonging to Venezuela in the Caribbean Sea. It is 160 kilometers (100 miles) from the mainland and is part of the Federal Dependencies. Since the 1950s, it has served as a presidential vacation residence and is a military zone. Hugo Chávez was imprisoned there after the 2002 coup d’état and during the two days he was deposed.

It is an uninhabited island, populated only by occasional fishermen and military personnel stationed at the Antonio Díaz Naval Air Base, which is currently the epicenter of the entire military exercise.

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