President Donald Trump has intensified U.S. military activity around Venezuela in recent months, from counter-narcotics operations to a broader campaign of coercive pressure against dictator Nicolás Maduro’s government. Since early September, U.S. forces have conducted strikes on roughly 20 alleged drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. The USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier, is now stationed off Venezuela’s coast. U.S. officials have also confirmed the existence of a CIA covert-action program in Venezuela.

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