More from the article ...

... For American commanders, that means every operation and incident now happens under the threat of Venezuelan retaliation " a situation the current force is not ready to handle.
Russian Missiles and Air Defense Systems Pose Threat to U.S. Navy

Venezuela can't match U.S. firepower in a conventional fight. Its 123,000-member armed forces are allegedly plagued by maintenance problems, with analysts telling The Wall Street Journal the military is "in shambles." Their submarines and surface vessels are probably inoperable, according to experts quoted by Breaking Defense.

But Venezuela has spent billions on the weapons that could cause the most damage: Russian-built systems such as missiles and jets designed to interdict U.S. ships and aircraft. ...

@#2 ... Venezuela could be our Ukraine. ...

Interesting observation ...

Related ...

Pentagon orders major naval deployment to Caribbean and South American waters

... The U.S. military is sending an aircraft carrier to the waters off South America, in the latest escalation and buildup of military forces in the region, the Pentagon announced Friday.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group to deploy to U.S. Southern Command to "bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a social media post.

The USS Ford is currently deployed to the Mediterranean Sea along with three destroyers. It would likely take several days for the ships to make the journey to South America.

Deploying an aircraft carrier is a major escalation of military power in a region that has already seen an unusually large U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean Sea and the waters off Venezuela. ...

@#8 ... Sounds like a practical use for a $13 Billion naval asset. ...

You noticed that also?

Then there's the apparently also the threatened land invasion of Venezuela by the Trump Dept of War.