There is currently no declared full-scale “war” inside Venezuela like a classic civil war between two large internal armies, but the situation is extremely serious: the United States has just carried out large-scale military strikes on Venezuelan territory and captured Nicolás Maduro, and Venezuela has responded with emergency measures and military mobilization.

What is happening now?

  • On 3 January 2026, the U.S. launched an operation (reported as “Operation Absolute Resolve”) with airstrikes against multiple targets in northern Venezuela, including near Caracas, to capture President Nicolás Maduro.
  • U.S. forces took Maduro and his wife into custody and transported them to the United States to face drug-related charges, with President Trump saying the U.S. will temporarily “run” Venezuela until a transition is arranged.
  • Venezuela’s leadership has denounced the operation as “imperialist aggression,” declared a state of emergency and called people into the streets, while ordering a national military deployment.

Is this a “war” in the strict sense?

  • Many officials and commentators are now using language like “war” or “illegal war” to describe the U.S. action, including critics in the U.S. Congress who are pushing war powers resolutions over the strikes.
  • However, what is documented so far is a major external military intervention with airstrikes and limited-duration special operations, not yet a prolonged, mutual, large-scale ground war with defined battlefronts. The risk is that it could escalate into exactly that if Venezuelan forces and regional actors choose armed resistance over negotiation.

On-the-ground situation in Venezuela

  • Venezuelan authorities report civilian and military casualties from strikes on urban areas and infrastructure, with preliminary reports mentioning dozens of people killed or injured, though numbers remain fluid and contested.
  • The government has ordered military deployments and urged supporters to mobilize in the streets, framing this as the “worst aggression” in the country’s recent history and promising resistance against foreign troops.
  • Borders and regional dynamics are shifting: for example, Venezuela has temporarily closed its border with Brazil, and regional governments are warning that chaos and potential internal conflict could trigger a new wave of mass migration from Venezuela.

How people and media are talking about it

  • International media and analysts describe rapidly escalating U.S.–Venezuela hostilities, noting that tensions had been rising for months due to sanctions, oil blockades and accusations about drugs and migration before the strikes actually happened.
  • In online forums and opinion pieces before the operation, people debated whether there would be “a war with Venezuela,” reflecting deep concern that opening another military front in South America could destabilize the region and overextend U.S. forces already engaged elsewhere.

What this means if you are asking “is there a war?”

  • There is active international armed conflict on Venezuelan soil involving U.S. military forces and Venezuelan targets; that goes beyond routine sanctions or diplomacy and clearly meets many people’s informal sense of “being at war.”
  • At the same time, it is not (as of the latest reports) a long-running, multi-front conventional war with two comparable armies clashing across the country, and much depends on whether Venezuelan forces, political elites, and regional states escalate into sustained fighting or push for a negotiated outcome.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.