What's happening with Trump and Venezuela? Here's why the US president keeps making threats

We're struggling to find people Donald Trump doesn't have a problem with right now, but one person his beef has been not-so-quietly brewing with is Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.

Back in October, it was reported that the US president is considering a military operation inside Venezuela to tackle cocaine facilities and drug traffickers.

Offshore, 21 vessels are thought to have been attacked in the Caribbean Sea to combat the problem (killing 80 people), with the US posting footage of their targets. However, there has been no evidence to suggest that these were smuggling boats.

To make matters more frosty, Colombia's president Gustavo Petro said a boat hit by the US was not Venezuelan, but "Colombian with Colombian citizens inside" - which the White House has denied.

Petro went on to describe Trump as “barbarian”, and condemned what he calls “undoubtedly an aggression against Latin America.”

But it doesn't appear to have dissuaded Trump from going further.

According to one of three US officials who spoke to CNN one month ago, “there are plans on the table that the president is considering” when it comes to targets inside the South American country, but that Trump “hasn’t ruled out diplomacy”.

Earlier this month, Trump gave the CIA permission for “covert action” against Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro’s government, before Venezuela then retaliated by revoking operating rights for six of the biggest airlines in the US, causing travel chaos.

Now, Trump has stepped it up a notch, openly posting online that he thinks Venezuela's airspace should be closed "in its entirety".

"To all Airlines, Pilots, Drug Dealers, and Human Traffickers, please consider THE AIRSPACE ABOVE AND SURROUNDING VENEZUELA TO BE CLOSED IN ITS ENTIRETY", his full post read.

His opposition has gone on to hit back at the post.

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"Trump's reckless actions towards Venezuela are pushing America closer and closer to another costly foreign war," top Senate Democrat Chuck Schumer posted on X on Sunday (30 November).

Defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, shared his own support for Trump's proposals on Friday (28 November).

“Our current operations in the Caribbean are lawful under both U.S. and international law, with all actions in compliance with the law of armed conflict—and approved by the best military and civilian lawyers, up and down the chain of command", he wrote.

Meanwhile, Venezuela's foreign ministry urged "the international community, the sovereign governments of the world, the UN, and the relevant multilateral organisations to firmly reject this immoral act of aggression", in a statement responding to the threat.

It's reported that State TV in the country has since been broadcasting military exercises, while the US moves 15,000 troops closer to its border, as well as the world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford.

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