VENEZUELA - Can it fend off a U.S. Invasion?

The 10,000 U.S. troops now operating in the Caribbean were sent to interdict drug boats. But Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's Sept. 30 state of external emergency fundamentally changed what they're facing: a military on full wartime alert, equipped with Russian air defenses and anti-ship missiles, backed by what Maduro claims is a militia of over 8 million members.
For American commanders, that means every operation and incident now happens under the threat of Venezuelan retaliation — a situation the current U.S. Forces are not ready to handle.