Imperialist offensive: the planning behind the attack against Venezuela

New information about the United States’ military aggression against Venezuelan sovereignty, launched in the early hours of this Saturday (3), reveals that the operation was designed to be a quick coup of force with a high symbolic impact. Unlike a prolonged conventional invasion, the action—which lasted less than 30 minutes—combined the use of precision aerial technology with the ground insertion of elite special forces.

The target: The heart of power and sovereignty

The focus of the bombings was not the economic infrastructure, but the nerve center of the Bolivarian government. Satellite images and reports from social movements in Caracas confirm that the Fuerte Tiuna military complex was one of the main targets, suffering partial destruction and fires. The precision of the attacks indicates prior intelligence work to neutralize the immediate response capacity of the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB).

The alleged capture of Nicolás Maduro and Cilia Flores, carried out by teams coordinated with US security agencies, is presented by Washington under the legal mantle of “combating drug trafficking” — a narrative constructed in American courts since 2020 to criminalize the leadership of the Venezuelan government and justify the breach of international law.

Geopolitics and Natural Resources

Although Donald Trump used his social network, Truth Socialto claim a “liberation” mission, international analysts point out that the real objectives transcend the farce of humanitarian rhetoric and focus on Venezuela’s natural resources. The operation specifically targeted the presence of Russian military advisors and infrastructure that connects Venezuela to strategic alliances outside Washington’s axis of influence.

The maintenance of oil production by the state-owned PDVSA, which confirmed there was no damage to refineries or wells, reinforces the thesis that the US objective is to control the resource, not its destruction. The intention is to capture the Venezuelan state intact to redirect its mineral and energy wealth in favor of American oil companies, breaking Caracas’ ties with Iran and Russia.

“Quarantine” as a weapon of war

Today’s military escalation is not an isolated event, but the culmination of a strategy of suffocation that began last year, in 2025, when the Trump administration imposed severe naval blockades, dubbed “quarantines,” that prevented the flow of basic goods and medicines to Venezuela. What we see today is the conversion of this economic siege into direct intervention.

In immediate response to the aggression, the FANB decreed the total closure of airspace to US commercial flights and aircraft, in an attempt to contain further incursions. The world is watching with apprehension what could become the most destabilizing conflict in Latin America in recent decades, while popular movements across the continent are already rehearsing the first demonstrations of repudiation of the new chapter of imperialism in the region.