Venezuela has 5,000 Russian-made anti-aircraft missiles in “key air defense positions,” its President Nicolás Maduro claimed on Wednesday, amid growing tension over the United States’ military deployment in the Caribbean.

Venezuelan government officials floated a plan in which President Nicolás Maduro would eventually leave office, a bid aimed at easing mounting U.S. pressure on the government in Caracas.

Trump administration escalates pressure on Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro through Caribbean naval deployment and cartel strikes in what analysts call modern gunboat diplomacy.

By speaking openly about authorising a “covert” CIA operation against the regime, Donald Trump is fanning the flames

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has asked Pope Leo XIV to help maintain peace in Venezuela. His comments come as the U.S. military continues to strike alleged drug-carrying boats off Venezuela.

Venezuela’s autocrat had proposed allocating his country’s oil wealth and other natural resources to the U.S. and ending deals with American adversaries to appease President Trump.

The USS Gerald R. Ford and its accompanying ships were previously off the coast of Israel in the eastern Mediterranean.