The White House recently proposed an idea for U.S. military planes to drop leaflets over Caracas in a psychological operation designed to further pressure Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, timed possibly to Sunday to coincide with his birthday, according to people familiar with the matter.
The operation, which those people said was not yet authorized, would be an escalation in Washington’s pressure campaign to oust Maduro from power, which has been a fixation since President Donald Trump’s first term and a priority among his top advisers.
Trump has deployed an armada of warships in the Caribbean Sea and thousands of American troops in the region in an operation that has killed more than 80 alleged drug traffickers since early September. The Trump administration steamrolled concerns that some government lawyers posed in internal conversations over whether it is legal to kill alleged criminals who are not enemy combatants.
The administration has claimed in a notification to Congress and parallel opinion by the Office of Legal Council that the U.S. is in a “non-international” armed conflict with “designated terrorist organizations.” That claim has roiled Democratic and some Republican lawmakers who have said the administration has not made a compelling case that it can wantonly kill alleged criminals in international waters, rather than interdicting and arresting them.
Trump said in mid-November that he had “sort of made up my mind” about how he will proceed with the possibility of military action in Venezuela, and he has previously threatened to expand the current operations to targets on land.
The leaflets were expected to contain information on a $50 million reward for assistance leading to Maduro’s arrest and conviction, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive planning for a potential operation. In August, U.S. officials increased the reward from $25 million, citing his 2020 indictment for corruption, narcoterrorism and drug trafficking.
The United States and more than 50 countries allege that Maduro lost Venezuela’s 2024 presidential election and do not recognize him as the country’s legitimate leader.
The leaflets could be dropped as early as Sunday, which is Maduro’s 63rd birthday. The timing appeared intentional, the people familiar said.
Such an operation is designed to further pressure Maduro to step aside or embolden opposition to his rule in a way that falls short of attacking Venezuela directly. Trump, who vowed to avoid creating new U.S. military adventures, has overseen numerous air campaigns in Iran, Yemen and now the Caribbean in the first year of his second term.
The White House declined to comment. The Pentagon did not immediately return a request for comment.
Dropping leaflets ahead of a potential military operation is a standard psychological warfare tactic designed to demoralize and intimidate the enemy. U.S. forces dropped leaflets over Iraq ahead of the 2003 invasion that warned Iraqi troops not to fire on U.S. jets and advised citizens to tune into U.S. radio broadcasts.
Psychological operations, or psyops, were also used by the Pentagon during the 1989 Panama invasion to oust dictator Manuel Antonio Noriega. U.S. troops blasted rock music like “Nowhere to Run” by Martha and the Vandellas to unnerve the famously opera-loving Noreiga as he took refuge in the Vatican diplomatic mission.
Natalie Allison contributed to this report.
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