Author: La Tabla/Data Journalism Platform 29 AUG 2025
The news agency Reuters has once again engaged in a pattern of strategic disinformation by publishing a report about the deployment of the USS Lake Erie (CG-70) cruiser and the USS Newport News nuclear submarine in the Caribbean for anti-drug operations, neglecting to mention that the vessel has been approved for dismantling in 2025 by the U.S. Navy due to budget cuts and high operational costs. This omission reveals a manufactured narrative that inflates the perception of military threats against Venezuela, consistent with Reuters’ biased history of coverage regarding the South American nation.
On August 25, Reuters announced, citing “anonymous sources,” that the vessels would arrive in the region in “the coming days” to combat drug cartels. However, official Navy documents from March 2024 confirm that the USS Lake Erie will be decommissioned before September 2025, after 32 years of service, due to the economic unviability of its modernization. The inconsistency between the announced deployment and its imminent dismantling exposes a propaganda operation aimed at legitimizing geopolitical pressure under the guise of national security.
This case fits into a documented pattern by Reuters of disseminating false or distorted information about Venezuela:
· In 2019, China refuted Reuters’ reports on alleged negotiations with Venezuela’s opposition, labeling them “fake news.”
· In 2023, the Venezuelan government denounced misinformation from Reuters regarding the Petro cryptocurrency.
· In 2024, the agency itself had to deny a false quote attributed to Trump about elections in Venezuela.
Experts suggest that these practices aim to generate psychological terror within the Venezuelan population and justify interventionism to control energy resources, amid a context where the Trump administration has doubled the reward for Nicolás Maduro to $50 million. The mobilization of a cruiser slated for scrapping and a submarine for strategic missions (USS Newport News) confirms the instrumental nature of the operation, with a permanent reassignment likelihood of just 20-30% according to naval analysis.
While Venezuela deploys 15,000 soldiers along its border with Colombia to combat drug trafficking, Reuters’ coverage ignores structural contradictions in the U.S. strategy, such as renewing licenses for Chevron to extract Venezuelan oil. The agency, serving power narratives, acts as a media arm in a non-conventional war where disinformation is the primary weapon.