ON a converted cargo vessel dubbed the “Ghost Ship” in the Caribbean, 150 Navy SEALs are ready to strike.
Used as a floating base for special ops in the Middle East, the team who took out Bin Laden have joined the US fleet assembling off the coast of Venezuela – as Donald Trump escalates his military stand-off with madcap dictator Nicolas Maduro.
Trump’s B-1 bombers were seen flying off the Venezuela coast on Monday – America’s latest show of force against Maduro’s regime.
The US president is continuing to pile pressure on the Venezuelan tyrant – who he accuses of funding drug-smuggling cartels.
Last month, three American B-52s flew alongside Marine Corps F-35s in what US authorities called a “bomber attack demo”.
As part of his war on drugs, Trump has so far amassed around 10,000 troops, a group of US marines and at least 10 warships to the Caribbean.
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And the arrival of USS Gerald Ford – the world’s biggest aircraft carrier – in the Caribbean this week is a clear sign that Trump plans to intensify military action against Venezuela, and carry out threats of airstrikes and special operations against land targets.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth has compared Venezuela’s ruling to ISIS and Al Qaeda – strongly indicating that the Pentagon is undertaking covert operations to dismantle Maduro’s regime.
US troop landings could follow in a “second phase” to secure key infrastructure – such as the main airport and oil facilities.
Critics say the 2,200 Marines on vessels off the coast of Venezuela don’t constitute a large enough force to invade a country twice the size of France with armed forces and militias.
But there are reports that the Marine Expeditionary Unit is being doubled in strength with reinforcements from the US.
Venezuela’s geographical proximity to the US allows elite paratroopers to be rushed directly from their home base in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, as in the 1989 invasion of Panama when the 82nd airborne division captured dictator Manuel Noriega.
Pentagon sources say that a land invasion “isn’t in the cards”.
Instead, they are planning “surgical” operations to “extract” Maduro and his chief henchmen, according to US Army War College professor and Latin America specialist, Dr Evan Ellis.
The US Navy’s SEAL Team 6 which killed Bin Laden and the Army’s Delta Force – modelled on Britain’s SAS – are key to the plan.
And Blackhawk helicopters of the air force 160th Special Operations Regiment, modified with stealth featuresadvanced radar and inertial navigation systems, have been spotted flying into Trinidad Tobago.
This is just 11 miles from Venezuela, from where infiltration missions can be launched.
About 150 Seals are also on board a converted cargo vessel known as the “Ghost Ship”.
It’s been used as a floating base for special operations in the Middle East – and has now joined the US fleet assembling in the Caribbean.
With two helipads and electronic warfare equipment, the vessel can operate undetected near Venezuela’s coast that Maduro has been fortifying with Russian and Iranian air defence and anti-ship missiles.
Maduro’s regime claimed this week to have captured three CIA agents – allegedly conducting a “false flag” operation to justify a US attack.
But it’s so far presented no evidence of the allegations.
Pentagon sources have dismissed the claims as “fake news” intended to discredit the covert missions ordered by Trump.
But behind the headlines sits a quieter but potentially decisive player: the CIA.
It comes as President Trump reportedly authorised covert CIA operations in Venezuela via a presidential “finding” – a legal green light that, historically, can give the agency sweeping latitude to act without needing fresh congressional approval.
That kind of sign-off can translate into everything from targeted paramilitary strikes to influence operations aimed at toppling hostile regimes, a pattern seen in past US interventions.
The scope of such a finding is driven by the White House.
Former CIA paramilitary officer Mick Mulroy told the BBC: “The parameters of the authorities are laid out in the finding.
“But there really isn’t any limitations, and it does not need congressional approval.”
In practice that means the CIA could mount “find, fix and finish” manhunts, carry out drone strikes against suspected narco-traffickers or run sabotage and influence campaigns to shape local politics.
Agency veterans say the toolbox is familiar: pinpoint strikes on cartel leaders, clandestine training and arming of anti-regime groups, media and money campaigns to shift public opinion, or sabotage of regime infrastructure.
Marc Polymeropoulos, a 26-year CIA veteran, said: “It’s going after certain individuals, networks, or supply chains.
“It’s manhunting, and there’s nobody better on the planet at that than the CIA.”
Special forces are focused on establishing close surveillance around Maduro and some twenty other leaders for their capture or elimination, tracing their communications and locating secret arms caches, sources say.
Expertly camouflaged observation teams would guide in air strikes or launch drones against command bunkers, hidden drug labs and guerrilla camps.
Direct action units inserted by helicopter would also conduct pre-dawn raids on key installations – with armed with HK416 assault rifles firing at rates of 850 rounds per minute and four-tube night vision goggles with 97-degree panoramic fields of view.
Dr Ellis told The Sun: “Special ops teams could remain on the ground to pursue lesser cartel bosses, Cuban intelligence operatives and other pro-regime elements who may organise terrorist attacks and guerrilla resistance after the kingpins are taken out.”
Delta Force…a brief history
AFTER a series of well publicised terror-related incidents in the 1970s the Pentagon decided to take action.
Set up by Colonel Charlie Beckwith, Delta Force became the US’s first full-time counter-terror force.
He served with the SAS during the Malayan Emergency – a brutal guerilla war fought between 1948 and 1960.
When he returned home Beckwith acknowledged that the US military needed its own highly-specialised unit.
Beckwith’s now famous claim that the US military needed “not only teachers, but doers” led to the founding of Delta.
He envisioned extremely adaptable teams that could operate in highly combative and risky situations.
The Pentagon launched Delta in the mid-1970s as Beckwith estimated it would take another two years to get the unit battle ready.
It was officially recognised on November 19, 1977 and began recruiting a year later.
It’s first high-profile mission was Operation Eagle Claw in 1979 – an aborted attempt to rescue hostages in Iran.
They might also be needed to protect democratically elected leaders trying to establish a new government.
Specialist sniper scouts of the SEALS and Marines Force Recon companies will also secure treacherous uphill corridors into the capital, Caracas, from the seaside Maiquetia airport.
Using Barret .50 mm high precision rifles, they would fire at saboteurs and terrorists armed with Russian assault weapons.
Trump’s war on drugs has so far been punctuated by lethal boat strikes on “narco terrorists” allegedly smuggling drugs into the US.
Washington claims to have destroyed at least 10 boats suspected of smuggling narcotics – killing 43 people since September.
Trump has hinted his campaign could soon move onto land, described by Maduro as a plot to oust him from power.
Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab, a close ally of Maduro, said there was “no doubt” that Trump is attempting to overthrow the Venezuelan government.
Special ops teams could remain on the ground to pursue lesser cartel bosses, Cuban intelligence operatives and other pro-regime elements who may organise terrorist attacks and guerrilla resistance after the kingpins are taken out
Dr Evan Ellis
“Trump wants to turn Venezuela into a colony of the US,” Saab claimed.
When asked about the risk of a land invasion, he said: “It shouldn’t happen, but we are prepared.”
Despite this, Saab insisted that Venezuela remains open to diplomacy, adding the country was “still ready to resume dialogue” with the US, despite what he described as its “illegitimate fight against drug trafficking”.
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Trump has labelled Maduro “the leader of an organised crime gang” – heading up Cartel of the Suns, the most powerful narco terrorist network in Venezuela and the wider region.
Washington has offered a $50 million reward for anyone who can give information that will lead to Maduro’s arrest.
What is the Cartel of the Suns?
By Juliana Cruz Lima, Foreign News Reporter
VENEZUELAN tyrant Nicolas Maduro is not merely complicit in organised crime — he leads it.
From generals to judges, the very top of Venezuela’s political and military elite are deeply embedded in a powerful, sprawling cocaine trafficking network, experts say.
Cartel de los Soles, translated as Cartel of The Suns, isn’t a cartel in the traditional sense.
It’s a web of Venezuelan military, intelligence and political elites accused of taxing, protecting and moving cocaine with state resources.
With parts of Maduro’s government deeply enmeshed in the drug trade, the lines between state power and organised crime have been blurred.
Dr César Alvarez, from Charles Sturt University, told The Sun: “Without a doubt, the leader of Cartel de los Soles is Nicolás Maduro.
“The involvement of the highest-ranking members of his military has been clearly demonstrated that not only government officials, but all the leaders from other criminal groups, not only in Venezuela but in Colombia, have been clearly established.”
US prosecutors first indicted Maduro in 2020 on narco-terrorism charges, accusing him and senior officials of conspiring with Colombia’s FARC guerrillas to “flood” the United States with cocaine.
The case alleges Venezuela’s state institutions — from the military and intelligence services to the judiciary — were weaponised to enable multi-ton shipments and shield traffickers from prosecution.
Maduro denies the charges and calls them politically motivated.
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