“Gerald Ford” off Latin America – Venezuela prepares for guerilla war with the US

“Gerald Ford” off Latin America – Venezuela prepares for guerilla war with the US

Drums of war as if sounding on Latin Americawhere the “Gerald R. Ford” arrived. The US aircraft carrier sailed from Rota, Spain, bound for the Caribbean, a few hundred kilometers from Venezuelawhich has raised the alarm.

As the Venezuelan military announced its “massive” deployment across the country, the aircraft carrier “Gerald R. Ford”, the largest and most advanced of the US armed forces, entered on Tuesday (11.11.2025) the command zone of the joint command responsible for the Latin American regionas announced by the Pentagon, in a significant reinforcement of the US military presence for operations against drug trafficking in the Caribbean and the Pacific.

“The Aircraft Carrier Strike Group ‘‘Gerald R. Ford”, led by the largest aircraft carrier in the world, the USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), entered the U.S. Latin America Command’s Southcom area of ​​operations on November 11,” announced the Southcom.

The deployment of this aircraft carrier strike group is aimed at “supporting the president’s order to dismantle transnational criminal organizations and combat narco-terrorism in defense of the homeland”Southcom added.

The USS «Gerald R. Ford» carries four squadrons of fighter aircraft F/A-18E Super Hornet and is accompanied, among other means, by three guided-missile destroyers, according to the announcement.

Since August, Washington has deployed to Caribbean forces, including six warships, officially to fight drug trafficking to the US. At least 76 people have been killed in 20 airstrikes against ships the US says were carrying drugs.

Shortly before the Pentagon’s announcement about the aircraft carrier «Gerald R. Ford», Venezuela’s military has announced its “massive” deployment across the countryin response to US “imperialism”.

Caracas sees this operation as a pretext, as the real goal is to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and seize the country’s oil reserves.

Maduro, who has repeatedly called for dialogue, declares at the same time that he is ready to defend himself and is constantly organizing military exercises. These frequent announcements by the government, which are highly publicized by the media, do not necessarily mean that high schools are being held.

Venezuela plans guerrilla warfare tactics if invaded by the US

Meanwhile, Venezuela is deploying decades-old Russian-made weapons systems as it plans a ‘guerrilla-war’-style resistance to sow chaos in the event of a US air or ground attack on its soil, according to sources with knowledge of the preparations and documents obtained by Reuters.

This approach is an explicit admission by the country that it faces shortages in personnel and material.

The President of the United States, Donald Trumpalso left open the possibility of ground operations in Venezuela, saying that “the next (step) will be land”after the successive attacks on vessels in the Caribbean and the concentration of strong military forces in the region. However, he later denied that he was considering the possibility of strikes on Venezuelan soil.

The Venezuelan President, Nicolas Madurowho has ruled the country since 2013, says Trump wants to topple him and that citizens and the military will resist such an attempt.

The U.S. military is vastly superior to Venezuela’s, which appears weakened by a lack of training, low wages and outdated equipment, said six sources familiar with the country’s military capabilities.

Some unit commanders were forced to negotiate with local food producers to feed their soldiersbecause government supply was insufficient, two sources with knowledge of the security forces told Reuters.

The reality has led the Maduro government to plan two possible strategies:

One, the one that is publicly stated by high-ranking officials, but without details, is the guerrillawhile the second has not been officially confirmed.

“Chaos in the streets”

Guerrilla-style defense, as the Caracas government calls it “prolonged resistance” and discussed on state television broadcasts, could involve small military units in more than 280 locations carrying out sabotage and other guerilla warfare tactics, according to the sources and several years-old documents seen by Reuters.

In the second strategy, the “initialization” intelligence services and armed supporters of the ruling party would create chaos on the streets of the capital Caracas and make the country ungovernable by foreign powers, said a source with knowledge of defense tactics and another opposition source.

«We wouldn’t even last two hours in a conventional war“, said a source close to the government.

Another source familiar with Venezuelan security and defense matters said the country is not prepared for a conflict, despite government assurances to the contrary.

«We are not ready to face one of the strongest and best trained armies in the world“, he said.

Publicly, government officials play down the US military threat, although they call for peace. “They think that with one bombardment everything will end. Here, in this country?” said the Minister of the Interior on television, Diosdado Campejo in early November.

Maduro regularly praises them “soldiers of the motherland”as the successors of the hero of independence Simon Bolivar.

“We will respond to aggression with national unity,” the defense minister said on Tuesday. Vladimir Padrinoadding however that “we are ready, but we don’t want war”.

Source link

Leave a Comment