‘Yes, Peace’: Maduro Urges Trump Not To Start An Afghanistan-Style War With Venezuela

Last Updated:November 14, 2025, 19:08 IST

The Venezuelan leader said there should be “no more forever wars,” as a US aircraft carrier moves closer to the region.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro takes an oath during a pro-government youth rally in Caracas, Venezuela. (IMAGE: AP PHOTO)

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, often accused of authoritarianism, urged his American counterpart Donald Trump not to lead the United States into an Afghanistan-style “forever war" with Venezuela.

Maduro told CNN that Trump must choose peace over conflict.

“No more forever wars. No more unjust wars. No more Libya. No more Afghanistan. Long live peace," the Venezuelan President said outside the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas on Thursday when asked what his message to the American people would be.

When asked what he would say directly to the US President, Maduro replied: “My message is yes, peace. Yes, peace."

His remarks come as the most advanced US aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford, is expected to reach waters off Venezuela in the coming days, a show of American military power not seen in Latin America for generations.

Earlier US Secretary Of War Pete Hegseth tweeted that the Southern Command mission would defend “our homeland" and secure it from “the drugs that are killing our people".

“The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood – and we will protect it".

The Ford’s impending arrival is a major moment in the Trump administration’s campaign in South America, which it describes as a counterdrug operation. It escalates the already massive buildup of military firepower in the region, with added pressure from bomber training runs near the Venezuelan coast, CIA operations that have been publicly authorized inside the country and boat strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean that have killed over 75 people.

The US has long used aircraft carriers as tools of deterrence to pressure and influence other nations, often without employing any force at all. They carry thousands of sailors and dozens of warplanes that can strike targets deep inside another country.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday formally named the mission Operation Southern Spear.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio insists that President Donald Trump is focused on stopping drugs from entering the U.S. by combatting “organized criminal narcoterrorists."

“That’s what he’s authorized. That’s what the military’s doing. That’s why our assets are there," he told reporters Wednesday after meeting his counterparts from the Group of Seven democracies in Canada.

But Rubio also says the US doesn’t recognize Maduro, who was widely accused of stealing last year’s election, as the leader of Venezuela and called the government a “transshipment organization" that openly cooperates with those trafficking drugs toward the US.

News world ‘Yes, Peace’: Maduro Urges Trump Not To Start An Afghanistan-Style War With Venezuela

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