First Time Since January Raid, American Troops Carry Out Military Exercise In Venezuela
An MV-22B Osprey aircraft takes part in a US military exercise over Caracas, marking Washington’s first military drill in Venezuela since the January operation that removed former president Nicolas Maduro from power. Image courtesy: X.com/@ArmyRecognition
The US, on Saturday (May 23, 2026), carried out a military drill over Caracas, its first in Venezuela since the American forces attacked the South American nation’s capital on January 3 to capture then-President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores.
The present Venezuelan government said it had authorised the American military drills as part of possible evacuation efforts during medical emergencies and disasters.
The US military exercise involved two MV-22B Osprey aircraft that landed near the US embassy and warships that entered the Venezuelan waters in the Caribbean Sea.
A statement from the US embassy in Caracas said it remained “committed to ensuring the implementation” of President Donald Trump’s three-phase plan, “particularly the stabilisation of Venezuela.”
US Southern Command commander Francis Donovan flew on one of the Osprey aircraft into Caracas during the exercise and met with the interim government officials. The US Southern Command oversees US military operations in the Americas.
A Venezuelan official, identified as Evelyn Rebolledo, said, “This (US military exercise) keeps us on guard.” She said, “A foreign country flying over the city itself, this is new to us, and more so, coming from the United States, given the current situation and all the turmoil in the country. It leaves us in a state of uncertainty.”
The Trump administration has backed the interim Delcy Rodriguez government. Rodriguez was formerly Maduro’s vice president. Her government has passed laws to open up Venezuela’s vast oil reserves and mining resources to the US.
Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado spoke to hundreds of Venezuelan emigrants at a rally in Panama City on Saturday (May 23), pledging to continue organising her democracy movement.
“The moment when I will return to our country is getting closer,” Machado said. “What is coming is big, what is coming is going to be massive,” she told her audience.
Machado is a 2025 Nobel Prize winner, and she has sought Trump’s support. She has spoken to supporters and leaders from across the world since she fled Venezuela last December after months of living in hiding.
Her opposition movement is widely seen as the legitimate winner of the 2024 election that Maduro was accused of rigging. During the January 2026 American military raid on Caracas, the Venezuelan authorities claimed over 100 people were killed.
