The Take

The Take: Why are US warships going to Venezuela?

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a meeting at the National Assembly in Caracas on August 22, 2025. Maduro denounced the US military deployment in Carribean waters as an 'immoral, criminal, and illegal' plan against his country to seek regime change [Juan Barreto/AFP]

Thousands of US troops are on warships heading to Venezuela’s coast. President Donald Trump says the move is part of his administration’s fight against drug cartels that the United States has labelled “terrorist organisations”. In response, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has ordered troops to the border and called on citizens to mobilise to defend the country. Is Trump’s aggressive move about fighting drugs or a signal of broader US intervention?

In this episode:

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Alessandro Rampietti (@rampietti), Al Jazeera Reporter

Episode credits:

This episode was produced by Tamara Khandaker, Noor Wazwaz, Kylene Kiang, Diana Ferrero and Tracie Hunte, with Manny Panaretos, Melanie Marich, Farhan Rafid, and Kisaa Zehra, and our guest host, Kevin Hirten. It was edited by Amy Walters and Sarí el-Khalili.

Our sound designer is Alex Roldan. Our video editors are Hisham Abu Salah and Mohannad al-Melhem. Alexandra Locke is The Take’s executive producer. Ney Alvarez is Al Jazeera’s head of audio.