Pentagon Chief Says Ready For Operation To Overthrow "Lukashenko's Friend"

• 3.09.2025, 21:11

Pete Hegseth is prepared to utilize the full resources of the U.S. Army to accomplish this task.

Washington may decide to overthrow the Nicolas Maduro regime in Venezuela. This was announced on Fox News by U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, noting the White House's readiness to engage all the resources of the U.S. military for this task. "The decision on possible regime change in Venezuela remains at the level of the president [Donald Trump]," the Pentagon chief emphasized.

Hegheseth confirmed that the US administration is openly seeking to remove Nicolas Maduro, whom he called "the head of a drug-trafficking state," from power. The minister recalled that Washington had put a $50 million reward on him for information contributing to his capture and accused the Venezuelan president of being involved in a drug trade that "directly affected the American people."

On the morning of September 2, the U.S. military sank a ship in the southern Caribbean Sea, en route, according to U.S. authorities, from Venezuela with a cargo of drugs. According to Donald Trump, "narco-terrorists" from the Tren de Aragua group, which acts for Maduro and is involved in drug trafficking, sex trafficking and murder, were on board. The strike killed 11 people.

The operation was part of a broader military campaign. In late August, Trump ordered a strike group of a missile cruiser, three destroyers, a submarine, and landing craft with 4,500 troops to be sent to the region to fight drug cartels.