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For months, Donald Trump has intensified military presence in the Caribbean.

From US warships in the region, American troops having the green light for covert operations, and deadly strikes on what the Trump administration claims are “narco-terrorists” – here is all you need to know about the crisis.

Why have tensions increased?

Tensions first started to escalate in September when President Donald Trump accused Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro – who he does not recognise as the country’s leader – of heading up the notorious organised crime gang Tren de Aragua (without providing evidence).

It followed US strikes on a boat that Mr Trump claimed was being used by the gang to carry drugs. Eleven people died in the strike, which is believed to have been the first US military operation in the southern Caribbean to crack down on drug cartels.

Since early September, US strikes have killed more than 80 people in 21 attacks on small boats accused of transporting narcotics, with Mr Trump maintaining cartels were a threat to US “national security, foreign policy, and vital US interests”.

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From November: Three killed as US strikes another alleged drug boat

The US president also alleged Venezuela had sent a significant number of prisoners, including individuals from mental health facilities, into the US, and confirmed he had approved CIA operations in the country to tackle alleged drug trafficking.

The US government has released no evidence to support its assertions that those killed in the boats were “narco-terrorists”.

In return, Venezuela’s president, Mr Maduro, accused Mr Trump of seeking regime change and of “fabricating a new eternal war” against his country. He denies having any links to the illegal drug trade.

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Is US about to go to war with Venezuela?

He also claimed the US strikes targeting boats are illegal, amount to murder, and are acts of aggression.

In a message to American citizens on 16 October, he said in English: “Not war, yes peace. The people of the US, please.”

What are US warships doing?

In November, the docking of the USS Gravely guided missile destroyer in the capital of Trinidad and Tobago – just 25 miles from the coast of Venezuela – escalated tensions.

Venezuela’s government condemned the arrival and called it a provocation by Trinidad and Tobago and the US.

The USS Gerald R Ford aircraft carrier – the largest warship in the world – travelled to the Caribbean in what was interpreted by many at the time as a show of military power.

The world's largest warship, the USS Gerald R Ford. File pic: Reuters
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The world’s largest warship, the USS Gerald R Ford. File pic: Reuters

Satellite image shows USS Gerald R Ford on 25 October off the coast of Croatia, a day after the announcement it would be deployed to the Caribbean. Pic: EU Copernicus
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Satellite image shows USS Gerald R Ford on 25 October off the coast of Croatia, a day after the announcement it would be deployed to the Caribbean. Pic: EU Copernicus

Other warships, F-35 aircraft, a new influx of troops and weaponry also arrived in the area, as part of the mission dubbed Operation Southern Spear.

Rear Admiral Paul Lanzilotta, who commands the strike group, said at the time, the mission will bolster an already large force of American warships to “protect our nation’s security and prosperity against narco-terrorism in the Western Hemisphere”.

After the arrival of the Ford, some experts remarked that it was ill-suited to fighting cartels, but could be an effective instrument of intimidation to push Mr Maduro to step down.

The USS Gravely destroyer arrives in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on 26 October. Pic: AP
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The USS Gravely destroyer arrives in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on 26 October. Pic: AP

What about airspace?

Days after the arrival of the USS Gerald R Ford, the US government’s Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) warned of a “potentially hazardous situation” when flying over Venezuela.

The warning led to three international airlines cancelling flights departing from Venezuela and, later, Mr Maduro revoked operating rights for six major airlines.

In further escalation, Mr Trump said on 30 November that the airspace “above and surrounding” the country should be considered closed “in its entirety”.

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Trump: Maduro call neither ‘went well or badly’

He wrote on Truth Social: “To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY.”

The move was labelled a “colonial threat” and “illegal, and unjustified aggression,” by Venezuela’s foreign affairs office, which accused the president of threatening “the sovereignty of the national airspace… and the full sovereignty of the Venezuelan state”.

Are Trump’s claims true?

Mr Trump said his reasons for the strikes on vessels were the migration of Venezuelans, allegedly including former prisoners, to the US – and drug trafficking.

But Venezuelan officials have claimed Mr Trump’s true motivation is access to the country’s plentiful oil reserves.

The US leader has not provided evidence for the claim about prisoners, and Sky News chief correspondent Stuart Ramsay pointed out that the fentanyl drug that is causing destruction in America is largely manufactured in Mexico, not Venezuela.

Pic: Reuters
Image:
Pic: Reuters

Ramsay reports that the fentanyl is smuggled directly into the US across its southern border. Venezuela is instead largely a transit country rather than a drug producer – supplying illegal drugs, especially cocaine, which come from countries like Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia.

“President Trump claims these boats from Venezuela are heading to the US, but in reality they are mainly heading to the nearby islands of Trinidad and Tobago, and from there they largely go to West Africa and Europe – mostly Spain and Portugal,” Ramsay says.

“Drugs heading to America either pass through Mexico over the border into the US or are transported via the Pacific Ocean route through countries like Ecuador. In this instance, Venezuela isn’t involved.”

In Venezuela, the government has civilians trained in the use of weapons to defend the country in the event of a US attack. Pic: AP
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In Venezuela, the government has civilians trained in the use of weapons to defend the country in the event of a US attack. Pic: AP

Will the US actually attack Venezuela?

Mr Trump has said in the past that land operations against alleged Venezuelan drug traffickers would begin “very soon” – which would be a major escalation of Operation Southern Spear.

To get an idea of what could happen next, Sky News spoke to Dr Carlos Solar, an expert on Latin American security at the RUSI defence thinktank.

He says the level of military strategy the US is applying around Venezuela seems “unproportionate” for the task of tackling drug trafficking.

“A build-up this size can only suggest there’s a strategic military goal,” he added.

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Venezuelan President: ‘We don’t want a war’

Dr Solar says the role of the CIA is “not surprising”, as the US often deploys spying capabilities in countries deemed adversarial.

“With the chances of a military conflict looming, having the most intelligence capable on the ground would be reasonable.”

Asked what could happen next, Dr Solar told Sky News: “One scenario is Trump authorises a round of long-range precision attacks in Venezuela’s territory linked to drug trafficking operations, eventually forcing Maduro to reciprocate later.

“We saw this early in the year when the US attacked Iran’s nuclear facilities and Tehran returned missiles to US bases in Qatar.

“If the US decides to move more strongly, destroying all critical military targets from the Venezuelan forces, then the US could have Maduro surrender and leave the country immediately.

“This would be the least disruptive without causing greater destabilisation of the country.”

Read more:
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Venezuela opposition leader wins Nobel Peace Prize

Trump may have another motive in escalation of war on drugs

Who is Venezuela’s leader?

Mr Maduro has been in power since 2013, including re-elections in contests marred by accusations of fraud.

He is currently serving his third term after being declared the winner of last year’s presidential election, despite evidence that the opposition defeated him by a two-to-one margin.

Over the last decade, his country has been gripped by spiralling hyperinflation and a humanitarian crisis that has seen an estimated eight million Venezuelans flee the country.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro. Pic: Reuters
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Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro. Pic: Reuters

Mr Maduro has also been indicted in American courts on federal charges of narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine, with the US government offering a reward of $50m for his arrest.

Responding to the allegations that he controls the crime group Tren de Aragua, Mr Maduro has repeatedly said the group is no longer active in their country after they dismantled it during a prison raid in 2023.

Members of Venezuela's Bolivarian National Guard. Pic: Reuters
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Members of Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Guard. Pic: Reuters

Tren de Aragua, which traces its roots to a Venezuelan prison, is not known for having a big role in global drug trafficking but instead for its involvement in contract killings, extortion, and people smuggling.

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White House: Europe ‘unrecognisable in 20 years or less’

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White House: Europe 'unrecognisable in 20 years or less'

President Trump’s “America First” agenda has been spelt out in a new White House National Security Strategy that should make stark reading for allies and foes of the United States alike.

The new 33-page document outlines an upending of American foreign policy objectives and priorities which have stood largely unchanged through different administrations stretching back decades.

The document says American strategy went “astray” over many years. It seeks to reframe America’s strategic interests as being far narrower now than at any time in its modern history.

Among the key points, the document says:

Europe faces “civilizational erasure” and could be “unrecognisable in 20 years or less”

• “Certain NATO members will become majority non-European” within a few decades

•​​​​​​​ America will “shift away” from the “burden” of the Middle East seeing it now as a “source and destination of international investment”

•​​​​​​​ In the Western hemisphere, America should pursue a policy of “enlist and expand… restoring American pre-eminence”

•​​​​​​​ In Africa, American policy focus should be on trade not “providing and spreading liberal ideology”

America will 'shift away' from the 'burden' of the Middle East. Pic: Reuters
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America will ‘shift away’ from the ‘burden’ of the Middle East. Pic: Reuters

In black-and-white, the text articulates a dramatic strategic shift which has been playing out at lightning speed over the past year.

The document underlines the end of the concept of America as an arbiter of the democratic rules-based order.

“American foreign policy elites convinced themselves that permanent American domination of the entire world was in the best interests of our country. Yet the affairs of other countries are our concern only if their activities directly threaten our interests,” the paper says.

Every US administration publishes at least one National Security Strategy during a presidential term.

The focus of this one is starkly different from that published by President Biden in 2022.

It’s also notably different from the document which President Trump published during his first term. His 2017 paper cast the world as a contest between “repressive regimes” and “free societies”.

Trump doesn't want the US to be the arbiter of the democratic rules-based order. Pic: Reuters
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Trump doesn’t want the US to be the arbiter of the democratic rules-based order. Pic: Reuters

This new one places the necessity to do trade above the imposition of values.

“We seek good relations and peaceful commercial relations with the nations of the world without imposing on them democratic or other social change that differs widely from their traditions and histories.”

Mass migration and Europe

The new document is highly critical of mass migration.

It warns that uncontrolled migration is destroying the concept of nation states which could impact America’s strategic alliances and the countries it counts as reliable allies.

The paper is particularly critical of Europe, of the European Union as a concept and of individual European nations.

“Should present trends continue, the continent will be unrecognizable in 20 years or less,” the paper says.

It continues: “As such, it is far from obvious whether certain European countries will have economies and militaries strong enough to remain reliable allies.

“Many of these nations are currently doubling down on their present path. We want Europe to remain European, to regain its civilizational self-confidence, and to abandon its failed focus on regulatory suffocation.”

Trump will seek to support 'patriotic European parties'. Pic: AP
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Trump will seek to support ‘patriotic European parties’. Pic: AP

The document’s language around the politics of governing parties across Europe is particularly stark.

Regarding Ukraine, the document says: “The Trump Administration finds itself at odds with European officials who hold unrealistic expectations for the war perched in unstable minority governments, many of which trample on basic principles of democracy to suppress opposition.

“A large European majority wants peace, yet that desire is not translated into policy, in large measure because of those government’s subversion of democratic processes.”

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The document outlines how his administration will seek to support “patriotic European parties”.

This is entirely in line with President Trump’s rhetoric but still represents a major departure from the longstanding principle of not interfering in the politics of allies.

It says: “American diplomacy should continue to stand up for genuine democracy, freedom of expression, and unapologetic celebrations of European nations’ individual character and history.

“America encourages its political allies in Europe to promote this revival of spirit, and the growing influence of patriotic European parties indeed gives cause for great optimism.”

Trump has at times had a fiery relationship with Ukraine's President Zelenskyy. Pic: Reuters
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Trump has at times had a fiery relationship with Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy. Pic: Reuters

Ukraine and Russia

On European-Russia relations, the document raises the prospect of war but curiously does not presume that such a conflict would involve America.

“Managing European relations with Russia will require significant US diplomatic engagement, both to reestablish conditions of strategic stability across the Eurasian landmass, and to mitigate the risk of conflict between Russia and European states.”

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By contrast, President Biden’s National Security Strategy, published in 2022, underlined repeatedly the “iron-clad” commitment the United States had to Europe’s security.

Chinese risk and opportunity

The document presents Asia and the Indo-Pacific region as a source of opportunity for strategic and economic cooperation.

Maintaining US military strength over China is also outlined. Pic: Reuters
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Maintaining US military strength over China is also outlined. Pic: Reuters

“President Trump is building alliances and strengthening partnerships in the Indo-Pacific that will be the bedrock of security and prosperity long into the future…”

And specifically on China, the paper presents a goal of “economic vitality” achieved through a balanced economic relationship between the two countries combined with an “ongoing focus on deterrence to prevent war”.

Deterrence would be achieved, it outlines, by maintaining preeminent military strength over China.

It says: “This combined approach can become a virtuous cycle as strong American deterrence opens up space for more disciplined economic action, while more disciplined economic action leads to greater American resources to sustain deterrence in the long term.”

Hemispheres of influence

In line with President Trump’s focus on spheres of influence, particular focus is given to the western hemisphere.

There are clear references to the impact of drugs from south and central America into the US and more subtle references to control of the arctic.

“The United States will reassert and enforce the Monroe Doctrine to restore American pre-eminence in the Western Hemisphere, and to protect our homeland and our access to key geographies throughout the region,” the paper says.

It continues: “We will deny non-Hemispheric competitors the ability to position forces or other threatening capabilities, or to own or control strategically vital assets, in our hemisphere.”

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Donald Trump awarded FIFA peace prize at World Cup draw

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Donald Trump awarded FIFA peace prize at World Cup draw

US President Donald Trump has been awarded FIFA’s new peace prize at the draw for next year’s World Cup.

FIFA President Gianni Infantino presented Mr Trump with a large golden trophy – formed of hands holding the earth – and a gold medal, which he wore around his neck.

The certificate, which Mr Infantino handed over at Washington DC’s Kennedy Center on Friday, recognises the US president for his actions to “promote peace and unity around the world”.

World football’s governing body, which announced the annual award last month, said it would be given to “individuals who have taken exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace”.

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Mr Trump said it was “truly one of the greatest honours of my life”.

He said: “We saved millions and millions of lives. The Congo is an example – over 10 million people killed. It was heading for another 10 million very quickly.”

US President Donald Trump. Pics: Reuters
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US President Donald Trump. Pics: Reuters

He also pointed to India and Pakistan, saying, “so many wars that we were able to end, in some cases a little before they started”.

Ahead of the draw, Mr Trump told reporters he did not care about the prize, but noted that he had “settled eight wars” in nearly 11 months in office.

The United States, along with Canada and Mexico, will host the tournament in 2026.

Mr Infantino, who has built up a strong relationship with the US president, backed him for the Nobel Peace Prize earlier this year.

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“This is what we want from a leader – a leader that cares about the people,” Mr Infantino said of Mr Trump.

The FIFA leader said to Mr Trump, “this is your prize, this is your peace prize”.

US President Donald Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Pic: Reuters
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US President Donald Trump and FIFA President Gianni Infantino. Pic: Reuters

Mr Trump thanked his family, including his wife, first lady Melania Trump, and praised the leaders of the other two host nations – Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum – in his brief remarks.

Mr Infantino has often spoken about football as a unifier for the world, but the prize is a departure from the federation’s traditional focus on sport.

FIFA has described the prize as one that rewards “individuals who have taken exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace, and by doing so have united people across the world”.

The award comes during a week where Mr Trump’s administration has been under scrutiny for lethal strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and as Mr Trump hardens his rhetoric against immigrants.

The Nobel Peace Prize this year was eventually awarded to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who said shortly after receiving the prize that she was dedicating it in part to Mr Trump for “his decisive support of our cause”.

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Netflix agrees blockbuster $72bn deal for Warner Bros studios

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Netflix agrees blockbuster bn deal for Warner Bros studios

Netflix has agreed a $72bn (£54bn) deal to secure Warner Bros Discovery’s film and TV studios and supercharge its library through rights to top franchises including Harry Potter and Game Of Thrones.

It had been reported that the US streaming giant was in exclusive talks over the deal following a bidding war for the assets.

Paramount Skydance and Comcast, the ultimate owner of Sky News, were the rival suitors for the bulk of WBD that also includes HBO, the HBO Max streaming platform and DC Studios.

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While Netflix has agreed a $27.75 per share price with WBD, which equates to the $72bn purchase figure, the deal gives the assets a total value of $82.7bn.

It will see WBD come under Netflix ownership once its remaining Discovery Global division, mostly legacy cable networks including CNN and the TNT sports channels, is separated.

However, the agreement is set to attract scrutiny from competition regulators, particularly in the United States and Europe.

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Both WBD and Netflix do not see the prospect of the deal being completed until late 2026 or 2027.

The main stumbling block is likely to be the fact that Netflix, which has hits including Stranger Things and Squid Game, is already the world’s biggest streaming service.

Stranger Things is one of Netflix's biggest hits. Pic: Netflix
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Stranger Things is one of Netflix’s biggest hits. Pic: Netflix

Further drama could come in the form of a complaint by Paramount, which had previously made a bid for the whole company.

CNBC reported this week that Paramount had claimed the auction process was biased in favour of Netflix.

Entertainment news provider Variety has also reported that major studios fear an institutional crisis for Hollywood unless the move is blocked.

Ted Sarandos, the co-chief executive of Netflix, said: “By combining Warner Bros’ incredible library of shows and movies – from timeless classics like Casablanca and Citizen Kane to modern favourites like Harry Potter and Friends – with our culture-defining titles like Stranger Things, KPop Demon Hunters and Squid Game, we’ll be able to do that even better.

“Together, we can give audiences more of what they love and help define the next century of storytelling.”

Netflix shares were trading down more than 3% in pre-market deals but recovered much of that loss when Wall Street opened. Those for WBD were up by more than 2%.

David O’Hara, managing director at the advisory firm MKI Global Partners, said of the proposed deal: “The 12-18 month timeline signals a long antitrust review, but despite the overlap between Netflix and HBO Max, there is a path to approval through possible HBO divestment.

“Netflix would not accept a $5.8bn break fee if it didn’t see at least a small chance of the deal closing.”

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