Venezuela-US timeline: How Trump ramped up pressure on Caracas before airstrikes and Maduro capture
More than 100 people killed in US military strikes targeting small boats in the Caribbean in 2025
The US government has launched a large scale attack on Venezuela and captured it’s president Nicolas Maduro.
Tensions have heightened between the two countries in recent months, with US president Donald Trump threatening to start ordering strikes on targets on Venezuelan soil.
The strikes follow multiple attacks on boats the US claim are smuggling narcotics for drug cartels, and a build up of a fleet of warships near Venezuela, including the largest US aircraft carrier.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has insisted the real purpose of the US military operations is to force him from office and take control of Venezuela's vast oil reserves and rare earth mineral deposits.
More than 100 people have been killed in US military strikes targeting small vessels operating in the Caribbean since the campaign began in 2025.
Here is a timeline of the US military actions, concerns among some lawmakers and the response in Venezuela:
January 2025
Trump signs an executive order that paves the way for criminal organisations and drug cartels to be named “foreign terrorist organizations.” They include Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan street gang.
The US intelligence community has disputed Trump’s central claim that Maduro’s administration is working with Tren de Aragua and orchestrating drug trafficking and illegal immigration into the US.
February 2025
The Trump administration formally designates eight Latin American crime organisations as foreign terrorist organisations.
The label is normally reserved for groups like al-Qaida or the Islamic State that use violence for political ends — not for profit-focused crime rings.
August 2025
The US military deploys three guided-missile destroyers to the waters off Venezuela.
The naval force in the Caribbean grows within weeks to include three amphibious assault ships and other vessels, carrying about 6,000 sailors and Marines and a variety of aircraft.
The US deploys F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico in September, while a Navy submarine carrying cruise missiles operates off South America.
September 2025
The US carries out its first strike against what Trump says was a drug-carrying vessel that departed from Venezuela and was operated by Tren de Aragua.
Trump says all 11 people on the boat were killed and posts a short video clip of a small vessel appearing to explode in flames.
Two weeks later, the US military carries out its second strike against an alleged drug boat, killing three people.
Asked what proof the US has that the vessel was carrying drugs, Trump told reporters that big bags of cocaine and fentanyl were spattered all over the ocean. However, images of what Trump described were not released by the military or the White House.
Days later, Trump said the US military carried out its third fatal strike against an alleged drug-smuggling vessel. The president says the attack killed three people and intelligence “confirmed the vessel was trafficking illicit narcotics.”
Several senators and human rights groups continue to question the legality of the strikes, describing them as a potential overreach of executive authority.
October 2025
On October 2, Trump declares drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and says the US is now in an “armed conflict” with them, according to a Trump administration memo obtained by The Associated Press.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says he ordered a fourth strike on a small boat he accuses of carrying drugs. He says four men were killed but offers no details on who they were or what group they belonged to.
On October 8 Senate Republicans vote down legislation that would have required the president to seek authorization from Congress before further military strikes.
Trump announces the fifth strike against a small boat accused of carrying drugs on October 14, saying it killed six people. The president says intelligence confirmed the vessel was trafficking narcotics on a known drug-trafficking route.
On October 15 Trump confirms he has authorised the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela and says he is weighing carrying out land operations in the country. He declines to say whether the CIA has authority to take action against Maduro.
A day later, Trump says the US struck a sixth suspected drug-carrying vessel in the Caribbean, killing two people and leaving two survivors who were on the semi-submersible craft.
On October 17, the US military attacks a seventh vessel that Hegseth says was carrying “substantial amounts of narcotics” and associated with a Colombian rebel group, the National Liberation Army, or ELN. Three people are killed.
Hegseth says the US military launched its eighth strike against an alleged drug-carrying vessel on October 21, killing two people in the eastern Pacific.
The attack marks an expansion of the military’s targeting area to the waters off South America where much of the cocaine from the world’s largest producers is smuggled.
A day later, Hegseth announces the ninth strike, another in the eastern Pacific, saying three men are killed.
On October 24, Hegseth orders the US military's most advanced aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, to the region in a significant escalation of military firepower.
He says the military conducted the 10th strike on a suspected drug-running boat, leaving six people dead. He says the vessel was operated by the Tren de Aragua gang.
On October 27, Hegseth says three more strikes were carried out in the eastern Pacific, killing 14 people and leaving one survivor.
Hegseth says Mexican authorities “assumed responsibility for coordinating the rescue” of the sole survivor, who is presumed dead after Mexico suspended its search after four days.
Hegseth says the US military carried out another strike on a boat he said was carrying drugs in the eastern Pacific, on October 29 killing all four people aboard in the 14th attack.
On October 31, U.N. human rights chief Volker Türk calls for an investigation into the strikes, in what appeared to be the first such condemnation of its kind from a United Nations organization.
November 2025
On November 1, Hegseth posts another video as he announces the 15th known strike, saying the vessel in the Caribbean was operated by a US-designated terrorist organization. He does not name the group and says three people were killed.
In the 16th known strike, Hegseth posts on social media that two people were killed aboard a vessel in the eastern Pacific on November 4. The same day, the Ford aircraft carrier leaves the Mediterranean Sea on its way to the Caribbean.
On November 6, Hegseth announces the 17th known strike, which killed three people, and Senate Republicans vote to reject legislation that would have limited Trump's ability to order an attack on Venezuelan soil without congressional authorization.
On November 9, the US military strikes two vessels in the eastern Pacific, killing six people, according to an announcement from Hegseth the following day.
The 20th known strike on a boat accused of transporting drugs kills four people in the Caribbean a day later, according to a social media post from the US military's Southern Command.
On November 11, Venezuela’s government launches what it says is a “massive” mobilisation of troops and volunteers for two days of exercises prompted by the US military buildup.
On November 15, three people are killed after the US military conducts its 21st strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific, before the Ford arrives in the Caribbean, a major moment in the Trump administration's show of force.
Trump then says the US “ may be having some discussions ” with Maduro and that “Venezuela would like to talk,” without offering details.
December 2025
US Southern Command says there are around 15,000 personnel operating in the area by December, in the largest military buildup in the region in generations.
On December 4, four people are killed in the 22nd strike on an alleged drug-smuggling boat in the eastern Pacific, according to a post from Southern Command.
Trump called the US buildup in the region “a massive armada, the biggest we've ever had” in a press conference and said it would be “smart” for Maduro to step down.
In late December the military conducted another strike on an alleged drug-trafficking vessel in the eastern Pacific. The strike was the 30th such attack since September, and it brings the total number of known casualties to 107, according to the Associated Press.
Trump also disclosed what may the first known land strike in his campaign. When asked about Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, Trump described a Christmas Eve attack on an alleged drug facility.
January 2026
In an interview filmed on New Year's Eve and subsequently broadcast on Venezuelan state television on New Year's Day, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro extended an olive branch to Trump, proposing "serious talks" on combating drug trafficking and offering American companies ready access to the nation's oil.
Mr Maduro described Venezuela as a "brother country" to the United States and a friendly government. He recalled that during their last conversation in November, Donald Trump had acknowledged his authority by addressing him as "Mr. President."
However, in the early hours on January 3, the US lanched an attack on Venezuela and said Maduro has been “captured”.
At least seven explosions and low-flying aircraft were seen in Venezuela’s capital in the early hours of Saturday morning, as the Venezuelan government said attacks took place on civilian and military installations in Caracas, Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira.
In a Truth Social post hours after the attack, the US president said: “The United States of America has successfully carried out a large scale strike against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolas Maduro, who has been, along with his wife, captured and flown out of the Country.
Venezuela said it rejected “military aggression” by the US, and said the goal of the attack is to “take possession of Venezuelan oil and minerals”.
Bookmark popover
Removed from bookmarks