What Did the U.S. Attack on Venezuela Cost?

Key Findings

Spending on Operation Southern Spear and Operation Absolute Resolve in Venezuela, the Caribbean, and the Eastern Pacific cost at least $4.7 billion from August 1, 2025-March 31, 2026. Costs will continue to mount as some naval assets and aircraft remain in the region and strikes continue.

Classifying cartels as terrorist organizations paved the way for expanding U.S. forces in the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility and eventual military aggression against President Maduro.

Full data for several cost categories are not publicly available, and certain operations remain classified or incompletely reported in the public domain. We expect that if comprehensive information were available, our cost estimate would likely increase significantly.

The $4.7 billion total spending is comprised of the following figures: 

• Naval deployment: $3,844,461,630 
• Aircraft deployment: $616,320,457
• Special operation forces: $15,942,269
• Operation Absolute Resolve (ancillary): $206,683,300
• Vessel Strikes (munitions): $12,589,890 – $50,359,560

The human costs of these operations are also significant. The raid and capture of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during Operation Absolute Resolve resulted in approximately 75 known fatalities. U.S. military strikes against unarmed vessels in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific between September 2, 2025 and March 31, 2026 have killed at least 163 people. In addition, at least one American service member died while deployed to the Caribbean in February 2026 when two U.S. ships collided.

To date, Congress has not authorized the use of force in the Caribbean or Eastern Pacific and the Pentagon has not provided information about costs of Venezuela-related operations, even as they continue to mount.

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This report was produced by the Costs of War project at Brown University and the Institute for Policy Studies. Read the full PDF here.