DONALD Trump has sent America’s deadliest warplanes towards Venezuela as he steps up military pressure on dictator Nicolás Maduro.
Two B-1B Lancer bombers – each capable of carrying 75,000lb of bombs – took off from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas and flew close to Venezuelan airspace in a powerful show of force.
Thursday’s flights remained in international airspace but well within striking distance.
Each supersonic aircraft can deliver a payload larger than any other in the US arsenal – a fleet designed to flatten drug cartels or, if Trump gives the word, Maduro’s defences if he continues to defy Washington.
It was the latest flex in a fast-tightening noose around the socialist tyrant, who just days ago pleaded, “No crazy war, please!” after Trump warned of possible land strikes inside Venezuela.
Retired Air Force general David Deptula said the flights signal “seriousness and intent.”
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He told the Wall Street Journal: “You’re bringing an enormous set of capabilities…endurance, payload, range and precision.”
Washington’s show of force — B-1s, B-52s, stealth F-35s, Reaper drones, and a nuclear-powered submarine — has left Caracas braced for impact.
Eight US warships now prowl the Caribbean, backed by a surge of 4,500 troops and intelligence assets from the CIA.
Maduro pleads for peace
The embattled Venezuelan dictator, visibly shaken, appealed directly to Trump this week.
“Yes peace, yes peace forever, peace forever. No crazy war, please!” Maduro said before a cheering crowd of regime-aligned unions.
But the plea did little to disguise his fear.
Inside Caracas, Maduro has been boasting of 5,000 Russian-made Igla-S missiles placed in “key air defence positions,” warning that “any military force in the world knows the power” of his stockpile.
The Igla-S is a short-range, shoulder-fired weapon meant to shoot down drones and helicopters — hardly a match for US bombers flying at 50,000 feet.
Yet the claim underscores how cornered the dictator feels as Trump’s military buildup surges.
Trump’s war on narco-terrorists
For weeks, US forces have been hammering alleged drug smugglers off Venezuela’s coast.
At least seven vessels have been destroyed and dozens killed, according to Pentagon briefings.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that two more boats were struck this week in the eastern Pacific.
Trump says he’s ready to take the fight inland.
“There are few boats traveling on the water, so now they’ll come in by land to a lesser extent, and they will be hit on land also,” he vowed.
The president insists the campaign is about “saving lives,” calling Maduro’s Venezuela a “worst abuser” of open borders and a pipeline for drugs.
Maduro, for his part, claims the strikes are part of a CIA-backed plot to remove him.
He’s dug into a fortified bunker under Caracas, guarded by Cuban Black Wasp commandos and paramilitary “Colectivos.”
Intelligence reports suggest Hezbollah militants and Colombian guerrillas are also fighting alongside his forces — a patchwork of killers and extremists ready to bleed the country dry to keep him in power.
Even as he rages against “Yankee aggression,” Maduro’s rhetoric has turned desperate.
He claims millions of volunteer militiamen are ready to repel any invasion.
But analysts say his troops are malnourished, under-trained, and more skilled at repressing civilians than fighting a war.
“They know it’s a lost cause but they’re trying to buy time,” former Venezuelan colonel Edward Rodriguez told the WSJ.
That time may be running out.
With the Caribbean now bristling with American destroyers, stealth fighters, and bombers, the balance of fear has shifted.
