The Trump administration has ordered the deployment of US air and naval forces to the Southern Caribbean Sea to “address threats from Latin American drug cartels,” Reuters reported on Thursday, citing two sources briefed on the decision.
The report didn’t specify what sort of action the US forces may take in the Southern Caribbean, but the news comes about a week after The New York Times reported that President Trump secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against Latin American cartels, including operations on foreign soil.
The Trump administration has also listed several Latin American cartels and gangs as Specially Designated Global Terrorists, including MS-13, Tren de Aragua, Cártel de Sinaloa, and Cartel de los Soles.
The US also claims that Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro is a leader of Cartel de los Soles, meaning the Trump administration may use the action against cartels as a pretext for another regime change effort in Caracas. Placing US military assets in the Southern Caribbean puts them in a position for potential military action against Venezuela.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a staunch supporter of the previous failed regime change attempt in Venezuela, announced last week that the US was raising the bounty on Maduro’s head to $50 million over claims that he is “violating US narcotics laws” The administration has provided no evidence to back up its claims about Maduro’s alleged involvement in drug trafficking.
The Trump administration has also said that Maduro was linked to Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, but Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has denied the claim and said that the statements from the US were the first time she heard the allegation. “On Mexico’s part, there is no investigation that has to do with that,” she told reporters last week. “As we always say, if they have some evidence, show it. We do not have any proof.”
