Key Points:
Venezuelan President Maduro has signed a decree allowing him to declare a state of emergency in case of escalating US aggression.
This will give him overarching powers over the country's military, public infrastructure, public services, and oil reserves.
The US claims its motive is to counter drug trafficking, but experts say it is to topple the Maduro government and take control of the country's oil reserves.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is set to declare a state of emergency in the country in case of a US military incursion. Vice President Delcy Rodriguez announced on Monday, 29 September 2025, that Maduro had signed a decree granting him ‘special’ powers over the country’s military, public services, and oil industry.
The decree will allow Maduro to suspend citizens’ basic rights, mobilise the military, control public infrastructure, and close the country’s borders in event of an emergency. The decree would remain in effect for 90 days before needing to be renewed.
The move follows the deployment of a US naval fleet to the Caribbean Sea. The Trump administration has stationed seven warships, several amphibious landing crafts, and a nuclear submarine in the region, allegedly to “combat and dismantle drug trafficking organisations, criminal cartels and…foreign terrorist organisations in our hemisphere”. The fleet has destroyed at least three boats and killed 17 people.
The Venezuelan government has rejected the US government’s stated motive, alleging, instead, that the move is intended to overthrow Maduro and take control of the country’s oil reserves.
"What the U.S. government, what warlord Marco Rubio is doing against Venezuela is a threat," VP Rodrigues said at the session, “It has only one purpose and objective: the reserves of oil, gas, gold, minerals and the biological wealth that Venezuela has.”
This claim has been supported by an ex-Pentagon commander who, while speaking to The New York Times, said, “The massive naval flotilla off the coast of Venezuela…has little to do with actual drug interdiction — they represent operational overkill.” Many others within the US have decried the strikes, with even the UN labelled them as “extrajudicial killings”.
See Also: Venezuela calls on UN to stop US military moves in Caribbean
The US’s own actions also belie their motivations. First, in context of the current measures, it is worth noting that most naval drug trafficking to the US runs along the Pacific coast, not through the Caribbean. Second, the US has a long history of overthrowing Latin American governments and installing puppet leaders more amicable to US business interests. Third, Trump has openly displayed his disdain for Maduro ever since his first term.
In 2018, before Venezuela’s presidential elections, the Trump administration was in talks with Venezuelan military officials to organise a coup against Maduro. In 2019, Trump declared his rival, Juan Guaidó, as President of Venezuela, giving him control over the country’s assets in the US. The same year, the US imposed sanctions on Venezuelan oil imports. Then in 2025, after reflection, Trump branded Maduro a cartel leader, slapping a $50 million bounty on him.
The real reason behind Trump’s actions is generally agreed to be oil. Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves. Since 1999, when socialist Hugo Chávez was elected president, the US has been unable to maintain control over these reserves, despite coup attempts and pressure tactics. After the 2019 sanctions, China replaced the US as Venezuela’s biggest oil exporter. The current aggression seems to be a way to reinforce US influence over Venezuelan oil trade, after a failed diplomatic attempt at the same earlier this year.
Experts on US-Venezuela relations concur that the current aggression is unlikely to develop into a full-scale assault. Though, as US government officials told NBC, plans are being drafted to target ‘drug traffickers’ within the country’s borders. However, the current US deployment is not enough to launch an invasion of Venezuela and hopes that it will cause instability and defection within Maduro’s cabinet, which is the expected motive, lack substance.
Since the US established its presence in the Caribbean, Maduro has mobilised his government in anticipation of an imminent attack. On 16 September 2025 he established The National Council for Sovereignty and Peace, a committee to maintain stability within the country, and has since begun military training camps for citizens. But whether this will be enough in case of an invasion remains to be seen.
Maduro’s weakness, and what the US is counting on, is his unpopularity within Venezuela. Despite being the highly popular Hugo Chávez’s hand-picked successor, Maduro has ruined his image over his 12-year rule through widespread corruption, human rights abuses, and governmental mismanagement. His win in the 2024 Venezuelan presidential elections is believed to have been rigged by citizens and democratic watchdogs alike.
It is unclear, however, whether this will enable Trump to topple Maduro from his seat of power. It’s a choice between a corrupt dictator with unchecked power and an overpowered oil-hungry invader. The Venezuelan people, it seems, have only bad options. [Rh/DS]
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