https://www.reuters.com/world/us/us-builds-up-forces-caribbean-officials-experts-ask-why-2025-08-29/WASHINGTON, Aug 29 (Reuters) - A large buildup of U.S. naval forces in and around the Southern Caribbean has officials in Caracas and experts in the United States asking: is the move aimed at combating drug cartels, as the Trump administration has suggested, or is it for something else entirely?Seven U.S. warships, along with one nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, are either in the region or are expected to be there soon, bringing along more than 4,500 sailors and marines.U.S. President Donald Trump has said combating drug cartels is a central goal for his administration and U.S. officials have told Reuters that the military efforts aim to address threats from those cartels.Stephen Miller, deputy White House chief of staff, said on Friday the military buildup was aimed to "combat and dismantle drug trafficking organizations, criminal cartels and these foreign terrorist organizations in our hemisphere."But it is unclear exactly how the U.S. military presence would disrupt the drug trade.Among other things, most of the seaborne drug trade travels to the United States via the Pacific, not the Atlantic, where the U.S. forces are, and much of what arrives via the Caribbean comes on clandestine flights.Venezuelan officials believe their government might be the real target.In early August, the United States doubled its reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to $50 million over allegations of drug trafficking and links to criminal groups.Maduro, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello and the country's ambassador to the United Nations Samuel Moncada have said the U.S. is threatening the country with the naval deployments, in violation of international treaties.They have also scoffed at U.S. assertions that the country and its leadership are key to major international drug trafficking.
"Venezuelans know who is behind these military threats by the United States against our country," Venezuela's Defense Minister General Vladimir Padrino said at a civil defense event on Friday, without offering further details. "We are not drug traffickers, we are noble and hard-working people."'GUNBOAT DIPLOMACY'While U.S. Coast Guard and Navy ships regularly operate in the Southern Caribbean, the current buildup exceeds the usual deployments in the region.In the naval force are warships, including USS San Antonio, USS Iwo Jima, and USS Fort Lauderdale. Some can carry aerial assets like helicopters while others can also deploy Tomahawk cruise missiles.The U.S. military has also been flying P-8 spy planes in the region to gather intelligence, U.S. officials have said. They have been flying over international waters.The Trump administration has said it can use the military to go after drug cartels and criminal groups and has directed the Pentagon to prepare options.U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio travelled to Doral, Florida, on Friday to visit the headquarters of the U.S. military's Southern Command, which oversees operations in the region.David Smilde, a Venezuela expert at Tulane University, said the military moves appeared to be an effort to pressure the Maduro government."I think what they are trying to do is put maximum pressure, real military pressure, on the regime to see if they can get it to break," Smilde said."It's gunboat diplomacy. It's old-fashioned tactics,” he added.While the naval forces are in the Caribbean and the Atlantic, the Pacific Ocean is the bigger route for maritime trafficking of cocaine, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said in its 2023 Global Report on Cocaine, citing figures from the U.S. DEA that show 74% of cocaine flowing north out of South America is trafficked over the Pacific.
Traffickers use airplanes to send cocaine northward through the Caribbean, the report said, naming Venezuela as a major hub for such departures. Mexico is the main source of fentanyl into the United States, with drug cartels smuggling it over the border.INTERVENTION AGAINST MADURO?Moncada said the U.S. buildup was meant to justify "an intervention against a legitimate president."Asked if the White House was ruling out regime change, a senior administration official said, "Right now they're there to ensure that drug smuggling does not happen.""The Maduro regime is not the legitimate government of Venezuela. It is a narco-terror cartel. Maduro is not a legitimate president. He is a fugitive head of this drug cartel," White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters on Thursday.Even so, U.S. officials say that while significant, the forces in the region are still far too small to be able to carry out the type of sustained operation that Caracas has warned against.In 1989, the United States deployed nearly 28,000 U.S. troops to invade Panama and capture dictator Manuel Noriega.Christopher Hernandez-Roy, with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said it was possible the buildup could be used for some sort of strike in Venezuela, but could be simply a show of force."It's too big to be just about drugs. It's too small to be about an invasion. But it's significant enough that it's there to do something," Hernandez-Roy said.
>>1431381Remember back when Trump ran on being an anti war president?
>>1431445It was too much fun not to do war stuff…
>>1431451If Trump truly wants to start a proxy war with China then Venezuela is probably the best place to do it outside of Taiwan.
>>1431381My theory is that he's posturing to negotiate with Maduro for oil.>act like you're going to invade(including bringing an MEU)>tell Maduro to sign preferential oil trade contract and watch borders for drug trade>Maduro was lowkey already doing this so he doesn't care and signs it>Trump parades his big epic victory WINNINGIf it's posturing without anything gained its dumb as hell, and if its an actually attack one MEU isn't enough to occupy the country and will be a public relations disaster for the "anti war" president.
>>1431594It seems like he could have done that without sending a massive fleet of ships there at taxpayer expense. Besides, I though Congress passed sanctions under Obama and Biden against using Venezuelan oil.
>>1431381It's happeninghttps://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-announces-us-military-conducted-lethal-strike-venezuelan-drug-boat-caribbean
>>1431699jcos can follow through on their pledge any day now
>>1431445I remember when he took a firm stance with North Korea and retarded jackasses like you said it was going to start WWIII.
>>1431701i remember when north korea wasn't augmenting russia's efforts in the ukraine war with 0 consequences
>>1431701exchanging love letters with Kim is a "firm stance" now? the MIGA revisionism knows no bounds.
>>1431699related videohttps://www.foxnews.com/video/6378212344112
>>1431712https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/08/world/asia/north-korea-un-sanctions-nuclear-missile-united-nations.html Threatening "fire and fury" sound more like a firm stance than a love letter. I'd say you're the one engaging in revisionism but we all know you really just have the memory of a goldfish.
>>1431728read the transcript moronhttps://www.cnn.com/2020/09/09/politics/transcripts-kim-jong-un-letters-trump
>>1431381So how many countries has El Trumpo attacked now?>Iran>Iraq>Syria>VenezuelaWhat am I leaving out?
>>1431739Liberal Terrorist H.Q.
>>1431743No one knows what that is except you, Anon.
does the us really have authority to just summarily execute foreign criminals?
>>1431381So Trump apparently blew up a boat of 11 drug smugglers today. Which yeah, sounds cool on paper, but the problem is they could've just as easily quietly intercepted the boat and gotten info on their routes and bosses. So all we accomplished is a flashy extrajudicial killing in foreign waters that basically sent a flashing red sign to all their compatriots and bosses that says "change your smuggling routes".
>>1431757>but the problem is they could've just as easily quietly intercepted the boat and gotten info on their routes and bosses.Which we already knew and never did anything about. Until now.
>>1431758Their current ones? The routes they were planning their way back on?Fucks sake anon, doing this on a regular basis is a recipe for disaster. Sooner or later they're gonna fuck up and blow up some poor bastard and his fishing boat and start an international incident. "Shoot first, ask questions later" is a terrible policy to have ESPECIALLY when you're acting in foreign territory you have not been called into.
>>1431730Dates matter.
>>1431752Pretty sure every administration has done that over the last 30 years. ffs, we had one president that summarily executed an american criminal and his children with a bomb
>>1431788???>>1431791al-Awlaki was confirmed AlQaeda living in Yemen, that's a bit different than a boat full of supposed drug smugglers.
>>1431788Dates matter to whom and for what reason?
>>1431832To the people who care enough to pay attention. As opposed to fagots who beg to he spoonfed.
>>1431834There is no difference between Trump's first term and his second.
Should have been the Sacklers
>>1431594>tell Maduro to sign preferential oil trade contract and watch borders for drug trade>>Maduro was lowkey already doing this so he doesn't care and signs itMaduro was never against this. The US is actively rejecting venezuelan oil and it bans anyone from dealing with venezuelan oil, buying it, offering services to the venezuelan oil sector, plus secondary sanctions on anyone deemed to help venezuela avoid sanctions.Its like in the iraq war that was said to be to steal oil and it was just to keep Iraqi oil devastated and off the market.
