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Venezuela tracker — the political crisis, US military activity and oil

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Every reported US military move around Venezuela — boat strikes, warship and aircraft deployments, ship seizures — alongside Venezuela’s political crisis, its disputed 2024 election, the opposition, oil and sanctions, migration and relations with Colombia and Guyana — collected from 310+ graded news outlets and government sources, in one place. Latest: “Earthquake in Venezuela today, Monday, November 9: epicenter and magnitude according to FUNVISIS report” (El Comercio (PE), 50m ago).

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Instability index
23/100
WATCH · located violence, not news volume
Last reported military action
None logged
in 3 days of records
Actions logged · 30 days
0
2+ outlets or an A/B outlet
Incidents · 30 days
0
corroborated by 2+ sources

Military activity log

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Nov 9, 2026Strike on a boatHegseth faces possible impeachment over Iran war, boat strikes and Maduro Raid
TASK & PURPOSE1 outletsingle report

Built automatically from headlines that say a military struck, seized, deployed, sent or flew something around Venezuela — one row per day and action type. Threats, “could strike”, analysis, denials and running death tolls are left out. Each government’s description of a target is its own claim. Faded rows come from a single outlet that is not A/B graded.

Latest Venezuela headlines

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US military & the Caribbean

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Politics, the opposition & rights

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Oil, sanctions & the economy

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Migration & deportations

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Colombia, Guyana & the region

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Timeline · key moments

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  1. Oct 10, 2025María Corina Machado awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
  2. Oct 2025Pentagon orders the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to the Caribbean
  3. Sep 2, 2025First announced US military strike on a boat the US says was carrying drugs from Venezuela; 11 killed, according to President Trump
  4. Aug 2025US sends warships to the southern Caribbean and doubles its reward for Maduro’s arrest to $50 million
  5. Jan 10, 2025Maduro sworn in for a third term
  6. Sep 8, 2024Opposition candidate Edmundo González leaves for exile in Spain
  7. Jul 28, 2024Presidential election; the result is disputed
  8. Oct 17, 2023Barbados Agreement on electoral conditions; the US eases oil sanctions the next day
  9. Dec 30, 2022Opposition lawmakers vote to dissolve Guaidó’s interim government
  10. Mar 26, 2020US indicts Maduro on narco-terrorism charges
  11. Jan 28, 2019US sanctions the state oil company PDVSA
  12. Jan 23, 2019National Assembly head Juan Guaidó declares himself interim president; the US and about 50 countries recognise him
  13. Jul 30, 2017Constituent Assembly elected, boycotted by the opposition, after months of protests in which more than 120 people died
  14. Apr 19, 2013Nicolás Maduro first sworn in as president after the 14 April election
  15. Mar 5, 2013Chávez dies
  16. Feb 2, 1999Hugo Chávez sworn in as president

Key facts

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Capital
Caracas
Population
≈28.5 million (UN estimate)
Oil reserves
≈303 billion barrels of proven crude reserves — the largest in the world (OPEC), mostly extra-heavy oil in the Orinoco Belt
Presidents
Hugo Chávez from February 1999 until his death on 5 March 2013; Nicolás Maduro first sworn in on 19 April 2013
2024 election
28 July 2024 — the National Electoral Council declared Maduro the winner without publishing polling-station results; the opposition published tally sheets it says show Edmundo González won; the Carter Center said the vote did not meet international standards
Migration
More than 7.7 million Venezuelans living abroad (R4V, the UNHCR–IOM platform, 2024) — Colombia hosts the most
US sanctions
Financial sanctions from August 2017; sanctions on the state oil company PDVSA from 28 January 2019
US indictment
March 2020 — the US Justice Department charged Maduro and senior officials with narco-terrorism
Opposition
María Corina Machado, barred from running in 2024, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 10 October 2025
Territorial claim
Essequibo, about two-thirds of Guyana — Venezuela held a referendum on its claim on 3 December 2023; the border case is before the ICJ

Specialist sources

Travel advice

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🇺🇸 U.S. State DepartmentLevel 3 · Reconsider travel
🇬🇧 UK FCDOLevel 3 · Reconsider travel
🇨🇦 Global Affairs CanadaLevel 4 · Do not travel
🇩🇪 German Foreign OfficeLevel 3 · Reconsider travel

Is it safe to travel to Venezuela? →

Sanctions

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Oil sector and PDVSA; targeted officials. US licensing has shifted repeatedly; check OFAC for current status.

US OFAC (VENEZUELA)EUCanada

Prediction markets

Venezuela leader end of 2026?94%

Traders’ odds, not a WARNPOINT forecast · all Venezuela odds →

Questions people ask

Is the US military active near Venezuela right now?

Nothing has been reported by two or more outlets in WARNPOINT’s records (3 days). The log updates every 15 minutes from 310+ news sources.

How dangerous is Venezuela right now?

Venezuela is rated Watch on WARNPOINT’s open-source instability index, at 23/100. The score measures located violence and crisis reporting inside the country — not how often it is in the news.

Is it safe to travel to Venezuela?

Government travel advice: U.S. State Department — Level 3 (Reconsider travel); UK FCDO — Level 3 (Reconsider travel); Global Affairs Canada — Level 4 (Do not travel); German Foreign Office — Level 3 (Reconsider travel).

Why is the US military in the Caribbean near Venezuela?

From August 2025 the US sent warships, aircraft and troops to the southern Caribbean, describing the deployment as an operation against drug trafficking; from 2 September 2025 it carried out strikes on boats it said were carrying drugs. The Venezuelan government called the deployment a threat aimed at removing it from power.

Who won Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election?

It is disputed. The National Electoral Council declared Nicolás Maduro the winner of the 28 July 2024 vote without publishing polling-station results. The opposition published tally sheets it says show Edmundo González won; the US said the evidence showed González won, and the Carter Center said the election did not meet international standards.

How many Venezuelans have left the country?

More than 7.7 million, according to R4V, the UNHCR–IOM coordination platform (2024) — one of the largest displacement crises in the world. Colombia hosts the most, followed by Peru, Brazil and Chile.

How much oil does Venezuela have?

About 303 billion barrels of proven crude reserves, the largest in the world according to OPEC, most of it extra-heavy oil in the Orinoco Belt. Production fell from more than 3 million barrels a day in the late 1990s to well under 1 million by 2020.

Where does this information come from?

From 310+ news outlets WARNPOINT reads around the clock — including Caracas Chronicles, El Nacional, InSight Crime, Latin America Reports and international wires — each graded for reliability. Venezuelan government-funded teleSUR is graded S and labelled. Spanish-language headlines are translated before they are shown. US descriptions of boat-strike targets are US government claims. Nothing on this page is AI-written.

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