Venezuela is preparing for a possible U.S. attack by deploying weapons, including decades-old Russian-made equipment, and planning guerrilla-style resistance operations or street-level chaos, sources and planning documents reviewed by Reuters indicate. The strategy reflects the country’s limitations in personnel and military readiness, highlighting the stark contrast between Venezuela’s debilitated armed forces and the U.S. military.

U.S. President Donald Trump has suggested the possibility of ground operations in Venezuela following multiple strikes on alleged drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean, though he later denied that strikes inside the country were imminent. Maduro, in power since 2013, has repeatedly vowed that Venezuelan citizens and the military would resist any foreign attempt to remove him from office.

Six sources familiar with the country’s military capabilities told Reuters that Venezuela’s armed forces suffer from poor training, low salaries, and outdated equipment. Some commanders have had to negotiate with local food suppliers to feed their troops due to government shortages. These conditions have prompted Maduro’s administration to pursue two complementary strategies: a guerrilla-style “prolonged resistance” and an unacknowledged approach termed “anarchization,” which would deploy intelligence personnel and armed ruling-party supporters to create disorder in Caracas and hinder foreign forces.

Reuters’ review of planning documents shows that the guerrilla strategy involves small military units at more than 280 locations conducting sabotage and other asymmetric operations. Meanwhile, analysts caution that the anarchization approach may mobilize only a fraction of the claimed civilian militia forces, with estimates of 5,000 to 7,000 participants. The country’s roughly 60,000-member Army and National Guard would serve as the backbone of the guerrilla-style defense.

Venezuela’s military equipment is largely outdated, with Russian-made Sukhoi fighter jets, helicopters, tanks, and shoulder-fired missiles ill-matched against U.S. capabilities. Maduro has sought assistance from Moscow for repairs and upgrades, and some 5,000 Igla missiles have reportedly been deployed across strategic positions. Planning documents seen by Reuters detail long-term preparations for combat, including training in navigation and small-unit tactics.

Despite these preparations, sources acknowledge that Venezuela is unprepared for conventional warfare. “We wouldn’t last two hours in a conventional war,” one source said. Observers suggest Maduro’s public displays of military readiness are as much about deterrence and signaling potential chaos as actual combat capability. The government’s longstanding ties to the military and its portrayal of armed civilians as defenders of the homeland are designed to reinforce loyalty and intimidate potential aggressors.

The Reuters investigation underscores the gap between Venezuela’s ambitious defense plans and the reality of its limited capabilities, highlighting how the government is leaning on unconventional tactics and psychological deterrence to compensate for structural weaknesses in the face of external threats.