The US War Department has begun sending conventional ground forces to Panama for training in jungle warfare for the first time in more than two decades, ABC News reported on Monday.
News of the training in Panama comes amid a major US military buildup in the Caribbean and a push toward a potential war with Venezuela, a country with vast jungles. A US military official told ABC that the training in Panama is not intended to prepare troops for a potential mission in Venezuela, but President Trump has reportedly been reviewing options for attacking the country.
While the US hasn’t sent enough forces to the Caribbean for a full-scale invasion of Venezuela, US military planners reportedly do believe it has a sufficient force to seize strategic ports and airfields in Venezuela. According to a report from The New York Times, one of the options presented to President Trump would involve sending troops to capture airfields or oil infrastructure inside the country.
The ABC report said that US soldiers and Marines are participating in a three-week training course once called “Green Hell” due to the similarities to combat in Vietnam at the Base Aeronaval Cristóbal Colón, formerly known as Fort Sherman. The jungle training course at the base was shuttered in 1999 when the US pulled troops out of the country as part of a deal to cede control of the Panama Canal to the Panamanian government.
Earlier this year, President Trump was calling for the US to “retake” the Panama Canal, which led to the US signing a deal with Panama that allows US troop deployments to bases along the canal for training and military exercises.
Proponents of a regime change war with Venezuela to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro point to the 1989 US invasion of Panama that led to the arrest of Panamanian leader and former CIA asset Manuel Noriega. But a major difference between a potential invasion of Venezuela and the US invasion that ousted Noriega is the fact that the US had a long-established military presence in Panama at the time.
Maduro has vowed that Venezuela is ready to fight if the US attacks, and Russia has recently delivered air defenses to the country and is considering further support. The Venezuelan leader also says that a pro-government militia that has millions of members is also ready to take up arms against any invading force.
