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As tensions between the United States and Venezuela escalate, a national security and foreign policy expert revealed what it would take for the Trump administration to deploy American boots on the ground.
Victoria Coates, former Trump national security advisor and vice president of the Heritage Foundation’s Kathryn and Shelby Cullom Davis Institute for National Security and Foreign Policy, told Fox News Digital during an interview that while deploying troops inside Venezuela is unlikely at this time, it remains “possible.”
“The president has fairly sweeping authorities under Article II of the Constitution to defend the American people from what he has defined as a real and present danger in the form of the drug cartels coming up from Venezuela,” Coates said.
In late November, President Donald Trump delivered a stern ultimatum to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to leave Venezuela immediately before announcing the country’s airspace should be closed, according to a report.
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The U.S. has a large military presence off the coast of Venezuela amid ongoing tensions involving President Donald Trump and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. (Aaron Schwartz/CNP/Bloomberg via Getty Images; Juan Barreto/AFP via Getty Images)
Washington’s warning was delivered in a phone call with Caracas and offered guaranteed evacuation for Maduro, his wife Cilia Flores, and their son, but only if the dictator agreed to resign on the spot, according to the Miami Herald.
The Trump administration has ordered an increasingly significant military buildup in the Caribbean region around Venezuela since August, including the most sophisticated aircraft carrier, the Gerald R. Ford, concentrated in the region.
Coates called the buildup “the most significant since Iraq.”
At least for now, however, Coates said the most likely route the administration will take is unleashing targeted airstrikes on cartel infrastructure in Venezuela. These, Coates explained, would likely be similar to the air strikes the Department of War has been unleashing on drug boats since September.
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A deadly strike on a suspected drug-running boat directed by President Donald Trump and announced by War Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Oct. 3. (SecWar/X)
“I would be surprised if there were actual combat exercises in Venezuela at this time,” said Coates.
Rather than bringing in American troops, Coates said she believes the buildup in the Caribbean is likely “designed to put a lot of pressure on Maduro, to make it clear that he doesn’t have anywhere near the firepower that the United States does, and hopefully he makes the decision to do the right thing and leave Venezuela to the Venezuelan people to make the changes that they would like to make.”
“I think that would be the president’s preferred state,” she said, noting, “But make no mistake about it, once you have this kind of hard power in the region, if Maduro will not do the right thing, there is the possibility of escalation.”
“This is a new kind of threat, a drug cartel that is associated with a foreign government. There are these ties between Nicolas Maduro and these cartels. And so, that is kind of a gray area. That’s why I think you see the administration kind of feeling their way a little bit to figure out how to get after this threat. But they’re the first ones who have actually confronted it. And I think it’s critically important.”
Coates said there is a wide range of things the administration could do to escalate, including increasing sanctions on Venezuela’s top military brass, as well as ultimately a raid to capture Maduro.
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An aerial view of aircraft carriers of the United States Navy USS Gerald R. Ford and USS Dwight D. Eisenhower together on November 03, 2023. (Photo by U.S.Navy Janae Chambers/Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“You could start by reaching out to his top military brass, suggest that they might find themselves under some pretty onerous sanctions if they don’t comply with the United States. There are a lot of people who like to spend a lot of time in Miami in that community, and if they suddenly realize that they or their girlfriends or wives can’t actually go to Miami anymore, that could be a compelling feature.”
“Somebody might decide they want that $25 million that’s on Maduro and betray him to the American authorities,” she added. “Ultimately there could be a raid to capture him, which has happened before in Panama in 1989.”
“So, that’s all possible scenarios, but I think they’re exploring scenario one now before moving on to any other options.”
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Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro brandishes a sword during an event at the military academy in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, Nov. 25, 2025. (Ariana Cubillos/AP Photo)
“What I think is critical for the American people to realize is this has morphed internationally into something that’s more than a drug enforcement issue,” she added. “We’re losing 100,000 citizens a year to the drugs that are coming in, everyone knows fentanyl, it’s also record amounts of cocaine that are coming out of Venezuela. And it’s gone from being a nuisance to being a major national security threat.”
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“That’s why the president is taking the actions that he has,” she added.
