Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said his security forces prevented a “false flag operation” to plant explosives at the United States Embassy in the capital Caracas in order to heighten tensions with Washington, amid a US military build-up off the coast of the Latin American country.

A notice calls the people the U.S. military recently killed on suspicion of drug smuggling in the Caribbean Sea “unlawful combatants.”

The push by top aides to President Trump to remove Nicolás Maduro as the leader of Venezuela has intensified in recent days, with administration officials discussing a broad campaign that would escalate military pressure to try to force him out, U.S. officials say.

The US military on Monday bombed a boat near Venezuela and killed three people, according to a statement released by President Trump on Truth Social.

President Trump has secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels that his administration has deemed terrorist organizations, according to people familiar with the matter.

Ecuador has erupted into a 'civil war' with cartel thugs after the president ordered the army onto the streets and declared a state of 'internal armed conflict'.

Florida Governor Ron Desantis said on Wednesday night that he would send the military into Mexico to fight drug cartels on “day one” of his presidency if he wins the 2024 presidential election.