Trump vs. Venezuela
Dmitry Nefedov, Sovetskaya Rossiya, November 5, 2025 —
In preparation for the much-publicized military operation against the “Maduro regime” in Venezuela, US authorities closed a section of airspace off the southeastern coast of Puerto Rico from November 1 to March 31 “to ensure special security measures,” according to an international NOTAM warning to pilots. The closed corridor extends from José Aponte de la Torre Airport, where US fifth-generation F-35 fighter jets are stationed, south to international airspace toward Venezuela, thereby encompassing the Western Virgin Islands, which have belonged to the US since 1917.
On October 31, The Miami Herald reported, citing official sources, that the Trump administration “intends to strike military targets in Venezuela, an operation that could begin at any moment.” While Trump himself, who famously has seven Fridays in a week (a characteristic of his business style!), claims his decision to launch a military operation against Venezuela is untrue. However, border airspace isn’t simply closed.
According to Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, the pro-American coup attempt failed, and therefore the US wants to take revenge with a direct military operation. Yesterday, a second Russian Il-76 military transport aircraft landed in Caracas, following Maduro’s letters of assistance to Russia, China, and Iran.
Meanwhile, troops in neighboring Trinidad and Tobago (TT) have been placed on high alert since October 31, as reported by local media: ground forces personnel and coast guard officers have been ordered to report to bases as soon as possible “to counter potential threats.” The defense forces have already been elevated to the highest alert level, “State One.”
We’ve previously written about the persistent interest of American and transnational corporations in Venezuela’s colossal oil reserves, but the gas component of the issue is no less important. We’re talking about the colossal reserves of natural and petroleum gas on the Caribbean shelf between Venezuela and the northwestern coast of the Transcaucasian Peninsula. According to available information, as early as the mid-2010s, a group of American companies proposed a long-term lease of these resources to Caracas. These proposals were later revived, but, as before, were rejected. Surely, on Washington’s “advice,” Transcaucas sought to acquire a share of the Venezuelan zone’s resources, but Caracas insisted on joint development of the entire area, without any redrawing of maritime boundaries.
Confirmed gas reserves exceed 450 billion cubic meters, of which the largest Dragon field, located primarily proportionally between Venezuela (48%) and TT (52%), accounts for up to 200 billion cubic meters (by 2025). Taking into account the estimated reserves of the entire region, these figures are one and a half times higher. Venezuela “is preparing to become a natural gas exporter in the short term,” the national oil company Petróleos de Venezuela SA (PdVSA) reported a year ago, citing the company’s executive vice president and Minister of People’s Power for Oil, D. Rodríguez. Last year, the Bolivarian Republic produced over 32 billion cubic meters of gas (an increase of 4% by 2023). Until 2015, Venezuela was a net importer of gas, but since 2016, it has become fully self-sufficient in gas production. According to the minister, “we have a vast resource base and the potential to utilize it to become a significant player in the global gas market.” Approximately 75% of the country’s gas reserves are located in its coastal and offshore areas.
On December 21, 2012, Venezuela signed an agreement with TT in Caracas for the joint development of the aforementioned Dragon field. On October 15, 2024, it was announced that Shell would begin exploration at the field. However, Caracas failed to agree to a long-term lease, although TT did not oppose such a lease. The Dragon field is part of the Mariscal Sucre integrated gas project, which also includes other major projects – Patao, Rio Caribe, and Mejillones.
By developing the Dragon field, TT expects to gain access to 3.6 billion cubic meters in the first stage of the joint project. Shell took on Dragon with an eye on annual gas supplies to the nearby Atlantic LNG LNG plant in TT, with a current capacity of 14.8 million tons per year. It is expected that its capacity will increase by almost a third due to new supplies. Atlantic LNG is one of the largest LNG plants and terminals in the Western Hemisphere, whose products are supplied not only to North America, but also to Europe and China. American Shell is dominant in all four production trains of this plant. In the first train, its share is 51%, while BP has 39%, and the National Gas Company TT has only 10%; in the second and third trains, Shell has 57.5%, BP has 42.5%; In the 4th line, Shell has 51.11%, BP has 37.78%, and National Gas Company TT has 11.11%.
At the same time, the development of the abundant natural gas resources in the Venezuelan offshore sector (and nearby), according to Caracas’s plans, will, among other things, enable the construction of an LNG plant with a capacity of 9.5-10 million tons per year in the northeast of the country and an export terminal without the participation of Shell or any other American company, which is clearly causing considerable heartburn in the White House. Amid growing regional tensions, Venezuela has suspended energy cooperation with Trinidad, including joint natural gas production projects. The Oil Ministry and the board of state-owned oil company PDVSA have proposed suspending the cooperation agreement with Trinidad. The government of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who is under sanctions, maintains close ties with the Trump administration, threatening to turn her small country “into an aircraft carrier of the American empire aimed against Venezuela.”
Persad-Bissessar is one of the few Caribbean leaders to openly welcome the US military buildup and strikes on ships, which could well qualify as acts of international maritime terrorism. An estimated 57 people, whose involvement in drug trafficking has not been proven, have been killed in these strikes. On October 26, a US warship docked in Trinidad, two days after the US announced the deployment of an aircraft carrier group to Latin America. According to The Washington Post, the armed group amassed in the Caribbean off the coast of Venezuela is estimated to number 16,000 personnel. In addition to eight warships and a nuclear submarine, drones and aircraft, including a B-52 strategic bomber and an F-35 fighter jet, are also deployed. The aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford and five escort ships are also en route to the coast of Venezuela. The aircraft carrier strike group (ACG) personnel are estimated at 4,000 people.
According to some sources, the only thing holding back proponents of yet another military adventure is the prospect of a widespread guerrilla movement, should the “Maduro regime” fall, that could spread to other Latin American countries, which would negatively impact both the stability of pro-American regimes throughout the region and the activities of transnational corporations.