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September 19, 2025

After Deadly U.S. Strikes on Boats, Venezuela Mobilizes More Than 2,500 Soldiers to La Orchila Island
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Venezuela has launched a series of military drills, mobilizing more than
2,500 soldiers to the Caribbean island of La Orchila, in response to
soaring tensions with the Trump administration over U.S. military
attacks and presence in the region. U.S. forces have blown up at least
two Venezuelan boats, killing at least 14 people that Trump officials,
without providing evidence, claimed were drug traffickers. U.N. experts
have condemned the U.S. for carrying out extrajudicial executions. The
escalating U.S. military action against Venezuela comes after Trump
signed a secret directive approving the Pentagon's use of military force
in Latin America, supposedly to target drug cartels.


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