In recent weeks, Washington has deployed warships, fighter jets and thousands of soldiers to Latin America and launched strikes on 21 alleged drug-smuggling boats, killing at least 80 people.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump recently suggested he has made up his mind on a course of action in Venezuela following multiple high-level briefings this week and a mounting US show of force in the region.
Venezuela, in turn, has said it is launching a “massive mobilization” of military personnel, weapons and equipment.
All of these incidents has fueled a speculation that an armed conflict between the US and Venezuela is imminent. 
Officials briefed Trump this week on options for military operations inside Venezuela, four sources told CNN, as he weighs the risks and benefits of launching a scaled-up campaign to potentially oust President Nicolás Maduro.     
The president indicated Friday he was drawing closer to a path forward on his attempts to cut down on illegal flows of migrants and drugs — and the possibility of regime change.
“I sort of have made up my mind — yeah. I mean, I can’t tell you what it would be, but I sort of have,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One when asked directly about those meetings and whether he had made a decision.
Trump and his team reviewed target options during both meetings.
Trump has been presented a wide range of options for Venezuela, including air strikes on military or government facilities and drug-trafficking routes, or a more direct attempt to take out Maduro. CNN previously reported that the president was considering plans to target cocaine production facilities and drug-trafficking routes inside Venezuela.
The world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, arrived in the region last week. In addition to the aircraft carrier itself — described as the US Navy’s “most lethal combat platform” — the US has amassed roughly 15,000 military personnel in the region, alongside more than a dozen warships, including a cruiser, destroyers, an air and missile defense command ship, amphibious assault vessels, and an attack submarine. It has also deployed 10 F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico, which has become a hub for the US military as part of the increased focus on the Caribbean.
Experts describe that level of military buildup as significant.
“I have been surprised by both the scale and the speed, and it is unprecedented,” Eric Farnsworth, Senior Associate at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, told CNN. “It’s the most significant build up this century. In fact, you have to go back to 1989, the US invasion of Panama, for anything remotely similar.”
In remarks from Caracas on Friday, Maduro warned that US military intervention could lay the groundwork for what he described as “another Gaza,” a “new Afghanistan” or “Vietnam again.”
Offering a direct message to the US, he said, “Stop the insane hand of those who order bombing, killing and bringing war to South America, to the Caribbean. Stop the war. No to war.”