US conducts military drill over Venezuela’s capital Caracas
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General Francis Donovan visiting Caracas on May 23, in a photo posted by the US Southern Command on X.
- The US military conducted its first drill over Caracas since capturing President Maduro on January 3, an attack Venezuelan authorities say killed 100 people.
- Venezuela authorised the drill for medical emergencies. The US embassy stated commitment to President Trump's "stabilization of Venezuela" plan.
- Residents feel "on guard" and uncertain. Trump supports Delcy Rodriguez's government, which opened Venezuela's resources to the US.
AI generated
CARACAS – The US military conducted a drill over the Venezuelan capital Caracas on May 23, its first military exercise in the South American nation since US troops attacked the city and captured then President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores on Jan 3.
The Venezuelan authorities say the attack killed at least 100 people.
The drill, which the Venezuelan government said it had authorised as an evacuation drill for possible medical emergencies or disasters, included two MV-22B Osprey aircraft that landed near the US embassy and vessels that entered Venezuelan waters in the Caribbean Sea.
Venezuela’s Information Ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The US embassy said in a statement that it remained “committed to ensuring the implementation” of US President Donald Trump’s three-phase plan, “particularly the stabilisation of Venezuela”.
Commander Francis Donovan of the US Southern Command, which oversees US military operations in the Americas, flew on one of the Osprey aircraft into Caracas, where he met interim government officials.
“This keeps us on guard,” said Ms Evelyn Rebolledo, 57, an administrator living in the capital.
“A foreign country flying over the city itself, this is new to us and more so coming from the United States, given the current situation and all the turmoil in the country. It leaves us in a state of uncertainty.”
Mr Trump’s administration has backed the government of interim leader Delcy Rodriguez – formerly Mr Maduro’s vice-president – which has passed laws to open up Venezuela’s vast oil reserves and mining resources to the US.
A US Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft landing during an evacuation drill at the US embassy compound in Caracas on May 23.
PHOTO: EPA
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado spoke to hundreds of Venezuelan emigrants at a rally in Panama City on May 23, pledging to continue organising the movement.
“The moment when I will return to our country is getting closer,” she said. “What is coming is big, what is coming is going to be massive.”
The Nobel Prize laureate, who has sought to court Mr Trump’s favour, has spoken to supporters and leaders from across the world since she fled Venezuela in December 2025 after months of living in hiding.
Her opposition movement is widely seen as the legitimate winner of the 2024 election that Maduro was accused of rigging. REUTERS
