Public opinion surrounding the military tensions between the US and Venezuela is predominantly negative, with a strong skepticism towards US intentions. Many commenters perceive American intervention as driven by self-serving motives related to oil acquisition, rather than genuine humanitarian concerns. A significant portion also fears that military actions could exacerbate violence and instability in the region.

United States

Venezuela

Trump Administration

ExRecruiter

I highly doubt there will be a significant ground invasion. Most likely, if anything, it would just be targeted air and naval strikes like we did with the Houthis and Iran, where we have complete dominance over Venezuela land won’t have to risk getting into a long forever ground war with an insurgency.

Steamsagoodham

Afghanistan proved that technology doesn't matter. We won the body count, but the Taliban still owns the country.

donkeybrainhero

It depends on what kind of opener the US uses and how much minerals and vespene gas we harvest. Do we rush? Timing attack? Or do we just macro or go mech?

UnbanSkullclamp420

USA is a really tough guy and doesn’t afraid of anything

Hateful_Face_Licking

If recent conflicts are looked at in comparison.  The US would most likely steamroll venezuelas regular forces in the short term.  If a power vacuum is left after the Maduro regime collapses, or Maduro himself manages to escape into the vast jungles of venezuela with enough supporters and materiel to start a guerilla insurgency, that's when shit gets difficult.

MatsudairaKD

In desert storm we lost 20 tanks. 17 were due to friendly fire. 

The U.S. military has more than enough capability to shut down their standing army/navy with a quickness.

What happens after that, who knows.

Aaaabbbbccccccccc

There would, literally, be no reason for us to put boots on the ground.

The issue, ultimately, is the Maduro regime and the cartels.  Park a carrier off the coast and go to town for a month and half the country is a smoking ruin, nothing they can do about it, and we don't even need another service to get involved.

No, those German subs are not going to be an issue for the carrier (or the hypothetical landing force).

The important part is, as always, what happens after the shooting stops.

Agammamon

It depends on China and Russia's support. Venezuela's largest export is crude oil; it is 90% of their total exports. Venezuela would fold if the US imposed a blockade. Once the regime ran out of money to pay the military their loyalty would evaporate, and the US wouldn't need to invade.

Cjosla_2

For army numbers it's 110k active personal, 8,000 "reserve" + 220k paramilitary and whatever they can pull from militia (4.5 million)

TrueAnsem

Have y'all seen what the cartel doing in Rio

Overall_Cranberry375

I assume they also have the Epstein files, which is why we’re engaging in this foolishness in the first place

OldArmyMetal

NeedleGunMonkey

I’m Venezuelan-American (and a liberal, not MAGA before you @ me).

It’s pressuring Maduro to accept last year’s elections. He lost to Edmundo/Maria Corina 70% to 30% and because he’s a narco terrorist him and his cronies went “nope” and used violence to suppress protests and keep a chokehold on the country.

Fellow Americans don’t understand that Maduro and his cronies are a mix of Narco Cartels + ISIS. They use violence to suppress ANY protest or riot, and when I mean violence I mean they shoot to kill hundreds and those wounded are sent to the biggest torture dungeon in our hemisphere (Helicoide) where they and their families are tortured.

American media calls it “regime change” when Edmundo has been democratically elected, American media makes it sound like we want American help to install another dictator and that’s not the case.

“But but Maria Corina sucked up to Trump!!!” Yes. The same way Zelensky also sucked up to Trump. We need American help and we all know we have to suck it up to the orange child.

“But there’ll be dead Venezuelans!! Turn Venezuela into Irak or Afghanistan!!!!” Today Maduro has been killing Venezuelans by the thousands AND 9 million of us have sought refugee all over the world in the biggest refugee crisis of the modern age. Bigger than Syria or Ukraine. Oh and Venezuela was the most stable democracy in Latin America in the XX century so no we are not Irak or Afghanistan. Look at Panama and Noriega for a better perspective.

“But we don’t want an American invasion!!” There won’t. You’re thinking of invasions of old. In this modern age Venezuelans want the USA to pull a Soleimani on the heads of the cartel with precision strikes. No American boots on the ground are needed.

“But but it’s all to steal your oil!!!” What oil? We are barely producing any and the little we do is sent to Cuba for free and to China to pay for weapons and surveillance of equipment. At least the Americans paid market price with hard currency. Currency we used to pay for infrastructure and the like.

“But Trump isn’t doing this out of the goodness of his heart!” Yeah we know. He wants a war to increase his popularity and to shut down the while Epstein and the economy fiasco. At least this’ll do some good.

Feel free to ask me any Qs

maq0r

Trumpian foreign policy is similar to Teddy Roosevelts: a more hands-on approach in Latin America than elsewhere globally

Old-School8916

Venezuela has a lot of oil reserves.

They won't let foreign companies come in and extract the oil for dirt cheap while treating local workers like trash. This goes against what's called the "Washington Consensus" for international trade, so politicians of both major parties (but Republicans much more than Democrats) consider them an enemy.

They don't do a good job extracting it themselves because their government is a bunch of kleptocrats. 

Trump is ramping up pressure either for domestic political reasons or because whatever adviser he spoke to most recently told him going after Venezuela was a good idea. 

Trump or one of his cronies thinks we should engage with Central and South America the way we did in the 1950s-1980s and there are plenty of people in the CIA and military who are happy to oblige.

NDaveT

The friction's with Maduro's regime. Sanctions, disputed elections, and now the 2025 flare-up over Venezuela's claim to Guyana's Essequibo.

The US re-imposed oil sanctions in 2024, and has been doing drills with Guyana and regional partners to deter escalation and patrol trafficking. There's no sign of a war build-up.

Front-Palpitation362

[deleted]

Vinfromdabx

1 They don't play nice with US investors

2 Oil

Ok-Detective3142

the us has long clashed with venezuela over maduro’s government, corruption, drug routes, and its ties to russia and iran. things have been heating up again lately, and there’s even a market on polymarket tracking the odds of some kind of military engagement, it’s sitting around 60% for something happening by the end of the year.

Optimal-Repair-5289

The US doesn't, Trump and the right wing can't control Venezuela like they have with many other countries.

Mammoth-Mud-9609

jeharris56

Venezuela has large deposits of natural resources such as rare earth metals and is oil rich to boot. The US Government currently adopts the virtue of might makes right. If they can, then they must.

Exotic-Priority-1617

They poorly ran their society, created a massive humanitarian crisis, and America and its LatAm allies have had to deal with the surge in immigration. We’re all hoping that Venezuela can get its act together for its own people and its neighbors

DependentHand9479

Venezuela has been trying to illegally annex/invade their neighbor Guyana for their oil. Guyana sells a lot of their oil to the U.S., the U.S. and Brazil have moved troops to be prepared to defend Guyana, trump has used that to show force against drugs by blowing up some boats.

No_Street8874

And while I am sympathetic to the plight of the Venezuelan people, I really don't see a reason my son should die for Venezuelan freedom.

MDV441226

The same problem the us had with Iraq.  Iraq has oil.  American companies want access to that oil.

CornFed1972

Trump needs a distraction from the Epstein files. Venezuela is just a handy scapegoat.

Zombie_Bait_56

Boobatron5k

Baselines_shift

Nothing important enough to go to war over. Trump and MAGA are morons.

2000TWLV

Maduro is a dictator with close ties to Russia that has recently been building up his own military to invade and capture half of the country of Guyana. Add in the complicity with drug cartels operating in Colombia and Venezuela, human rights abuse and the general fact that he's the most destabilizing figure in the Americas and you have more than enough reasons

AlonsoDaGoat

They have oil reserves. 

We want them. 

Everyone will tell you about " oh drug cartels, terrorists " the US government doesn't give a shit about them. They want the oil. That's about it.

noah7233

Not controlling the oil for maximum profit for rich people.

adamosity1

A few boats blowing up a few drug boats heading for the US isn't exactly a build up of military power. Immoral? Illegal? Maybe. 

hatred-shapped

They have a lot of oil. The US gets hurt when we can’t control another country.

Maduro challenged trump to a measurement contest.....lay em out and measure.... obviously baby boi Donnie got upset

FruedISlip

They can use their fishing boats as target practice and there’s not a damn thing Venezuela or the rest of the world can do about it.

Mayor-of-Hiroshima

Cuban Americans want to overthrow it to further weaken the Cuban regime.

MrArmageddon12

I saw the whole Albany ANG C-130 squadron up today, usually they fly only one at a time, headed south during the shutdown

Clone95

&gt;While the endgame of the massive buildup is not yet clear, the pieces are in place for operations inside Venezuela, something President Donald Trump suggested last Thursday. 

&gt;“The land is going to be next,” he said.


MV Ocean Trader, USS Iwo Jima and USS San Antonio..  It will be   [Banana Wars](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_Wars) all over again.

LtCmdrData

China and Venezuela have pursued an oil-for-loans cooperation since 2007, with China providing cumulative financing exceeding US$50 billion. Venezuela repays the loans by exporting 500,000 barrels of crude oil daily. In 2018, the two parties further signed an integrated services contract for 300 drilling rigs, advancing collaboration across the entire industrial chain.

In August 2025, China's Concordia New Energy Group signed a $1 billion agreement with Petróleos de Venezuela (PDVSA) to develop the Lago Cinco and Lagunillas Lago oil fields, securing 20-year extraction rights.

Since 2003, Chinese enterprises have participated in 17 major infrastructure projects in Venezuela, with total investments exceeding $22 billion. These encompass ports, railways, telecommunications networks, and power facilities. For instance, the construction of the Parua Port and iron ore mining complex significantly enhanced Venezuela's export capacity.

These represent the focal points the United States must target. Destroying the international rules it established through military force may be straightforward, but rebuilding the international order afterwards proves exceedingly difficult. This is because nations no longer trust the rhetoric of ‘freedom, democracy, and trade,’ nor do others endorse the trade and democratic principles championed by the United States.

https://preview.redd.it/ffrybw9ohyyf1.png?width=1080&amp;format=png&amp;auto=webp&amp;s=792874e369b5bcff3c7c847e291da153f39f3188

AttorneyOk5749

Uh oh. They're really doing this, aren't they?

MacroSolid

Trump just said he wasn't planning any strikes on Venezuela a few days ago. Surely he wouldn't be lying about that. There's no way he would greenlight this. ^/s

beatenmeat

A 3 day special operation to get rid of the Nazis.. sorry I mean drug cartels?

KN_Knoxxius

Has Venezuela asked China for assistance yet?

ChampionshipOk5046

Throb_Zomby

Sorry, Brit here uneducated on this topic.

… When did this administration decide that it was going to potentially go to war with/invade Venezuela?

Like, what is the justification? I’ve seen a couple of things recently about supposed drug-related shipping busts/strikes, but how does that justify staging for an invasion?

ImABrickwallAMA

Military tensions in US-Venezuela relations have increased, with substantial military deployments noted by the Trump administration amid concerns about potential invasion.

Venezuela's Military Tensions with the US

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