How much did the US operation in Venezuela cost?

It has been one month since the United States carried out its military operation in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital, under the codename “Absolute Determination.”

According to Sabil.az, new details have emerged about the operation during which Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was detained by US forces.

To recall, Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, were captured in Caracas on the night of January 3 and subsequently transported to the United States. The operation reportedly lasted two hours and 20 minutes. The couple was charged with narcoterrorism, drug trafficking, and weapons possession. Venezuelan authorities described the events as an act of military aggression, claiming that around 100 people were killed during the clashes in early January.

Estimated Cost: Nearly $3 Billion

According to Bloomberg, US military activities in the Caribbean — including the operation to detain the Venezuelan president — have cost approximately $2.9 billion.

The agency reported that the daily operating costs of naval forces deployed in the region between mid-November and mid-January exceeded $20 million.

Elaine McCusker, a former Pentagon watchdog and senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI), stated that Operation Southern Spear — which includes Operation Absolute Determination — has cost roughly $2 billion since August 2025.

McCusker noted that these estimates are based on open-source data and primarily cover the operational costs of ships, aircraft, and remotely piloted systems used in the strikes, as well as potential ammunition replacement. However, the figures do not account for intelligence support, targeting systems, cyber operations, or operational training expenses.

Breakdown of Major Military Expenses

Bloomberg, citing data from the US Congressional Budget Office and defense budget documents, provided more detailed cost estimates:

• Operating three amphibious assault ships — Fort Lauderdale, San Antonio, and Iwo Jima — cost approximately $200.8 million. Maduro and Flores were reportedly evacuated aboard the USS Iwo Jima after their capture.

• The Marine Expeditionary Unit’s deployment amounted to $873.6 million.

• The aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford incurred operational costs of $417.5 million.

Additional expenditures covered earlier deployments in November, including three guided-missile destroyers and one littoral combat ship, as well as a full carrier strike group composed of four guided-missile destroyers. Another group included two guided-missile cruisers, one guided-missile destroyer, and one littoral combat ship.

Despite these estimates, the Pentagon has not issued an official cost assessment. Senior lawmakers on the Senate Appropriations and Armed Services committees told Bloomberg they had not received formal cost figures, and no supplemental funding request had been submitted.

Background to the Operation

The United States began increasing its military presence in the Caribbean in August 2025. Since September, US forces have carried out strikes against vessels Washington alleges were involved in drug trafficking.

In mid-December, US President Donald Trump announced a blockade targeting sanctioned oil tankers traveling to and from Venezuela. Following this decision, US forces seized several vessels, including the tanker Marinera (formerly known as Bella 1), which had been under pursuit.

Use of Artificial Intelligence

Another significant detail that has emerged concerns the use of artificial intelligence in planning and executing the operation.

According to The Wall Street Journal, citing sources familiar with the matter, the Pentagon utilized an AI model called Claude, developed by Anthropic AI, during preparations for the special forces mission to capture Maduro.

Claude is an artificial intelligence chatbot designed for text generation and interactive communication. Anthropic was founded in 2021 by siblings Dario and Daniela Amodei, former vice presidents of OpenAI.

Sources indicated that the integration of Claude into operational planning was made possible through Anthropic’s partnership with Palantir Technologies, a data analytics company whose tools are widely used by the US Department of Defense and federal law enforcement agencies.

The publication did not rule out the possibility that additional AI systems were employed for various operational tasks during the mission.

Stabil.Az