The Trump administration has deployed eight Navy warships off the coast of Venezuela and conducted lethal attacks on suspected drug cartel boats. This move is raising hopes among Venezuelan exiles that the administration might finally take substantive action against Nicolas Maduro’s oppressive government, rather than just offering verbal opposition.

However, there is significant debate about whether these military actions will actually destabilize Maduro’s regime or if they are merely an expensive display from Trump’s revitalized Department of Defense trying to showcase its power.

‘I think the deployment of ships and submarines seems somewhat theatrical,’ said Carlos, a 22-year-old who fled Venezuela in 2017 and now resides in Boston, Massachusetts.

Some military analysts argue that the U.S. Navy’s presence in the Caribbean is primarily for political messaging, pointing out that the operations focus on drug cartel activities rather than an effort to dismantle Maduro’s regime.

Others, however, see a chance for real change: Daniel Di Martino of the Manhattan Institute believes the U.S. possesses the military capability to neutralize the Venezuelan military and enable Venezuelans to regain control.

The situation intensified dramatically on September 2 when the U.S. killed 11 suspected traffickers in a speedboat attack, prompting Venezuela to respond by flying F-16 jets near the USS Jason Dunham two days later.

The Pentagon warned Maduro against interfering with anti-narco operations.

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth visited Puerto Rico Monday for military exercises, as the island’s Senate approved a resolution supporting Trump’s fight against Maduro’s ‘narcoregime.’ 

Senate President Rivera Schatz told the Daily Mail: ‘Puerto Rico’s location gives the United States a decisive strategic position in the Caribbean to confront Maduro.’

‘It is also the message I have carried to the Capitol in meetings with members of Congress: Puerto Rico stands ready to support the U.S. military in this fight.’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio promised more lethal action: ‘What will stop them is when you blow them up, when you get rid of them.’ Similar strikes will ‘happen again,’ he said.

Still,  Venezuelans who fled the country for a better life in the U.S. detail to the Daily Mail that they are ‘optimistic’ but ‘skeptical’ the warship build-up and recent actions in the Caribbean will lead to lasting change.

Carlos, who requested his last name be withheld due to concerns about retaliation from the regime, thinks the military hardware off the coastline are ‘a bit performative.’ 

‘Definitely it’s a huge step,’ he admitted, but added: ‘blowing up ships and putting out rewards for information – that’s all good and all, but it doesn’t usually lead to anything … It seems like a problem without a solution.’

Cesar, who was born in Venezuela and fled to the U.S. in 1999 and again in 2009, told the Daily Mail: ‘There’s a skepticism.’

‘But people just want a solution,’ the 27-year-old added. ‘So, blowing up the boat – that was a step.’

‘People want a new chapter, and we’ve tried everything right?’ Cesar said when asked about perceptions among Venezuelans of Trump’s administration taking more aggressive actions against Maduro.

Secretary Hegseth said the strike was the beginning of a broader U.S. military campaign against drug cartels, but since the first action this month there have not been any known direct actions. 

‘We’ve got assets in the air, assets in the water, assets on ships,’ he said of the movement of presence to the Caribbean. 

This week, military forces in U.S. territory of Puerto Rico conducted amphibious training exercises focused on enhancing readiness of Marines and sailors amid heightening tensions with Venezuela over drug trafficking impacts on Americans.

The posturing in Puerto Rico adds to the enhanced aggression by the Trump administration against Venezuela, Maduro and his so-called narco-regime.

Di Martino called the boat strike ‘a great move’ and ‘a different type of economic blockade’ — reasoning that cutting off narco-trafficking profits directly harms the regime. 

But the aggressive assault has him clamoring for more.  

‘I hope that they do whatever it takes to overthrow the Maduro regime,’ Di Martino told the Daily Mail. ‘Killing Maduro. Kidnapping him. I think that Maduro – and Chavez before him – has destroyed Venezuela.’

Even he acknowledges, however, that ‘there’s not going to be an invasion – I think this is an exaggeration.’