Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro has doubled down on calls for peace as U.S. President Donald Trump reportedly mulls over options for military operations inside the country and places an enormous amount of firepower close to Venezuela's coast.

Why It Matters

At least 80 people have been killed in U.S. strikes on 20 alleged drug boats in the southern Caribbean and eastern Pacific since early September. Trump and other top officials have said these vessels were carrying drugs bound for the U.S.

Many observers and former officials see the campaign — which has garnered heavy criticism as potentially breaching international law and jeopardizing the U.S.' international standing—as intended to pressurize Maduro and force the authoritarian Venezuelan leader to flee Caracas. U.S. authoriti

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