The U.S. military is turning up the heat against drug cartels in the southern Caribbean Sea, deploying several warships and other assets as tensions between Washington and Caracas escalate. <\/p>\n
The spotlight on the buildup of U.S. forces in the region increased this week after President Trump announced that the U.S. military took out a boat<\/a> with a \u201ckinetic\u201d strike, killing 11 people on board, whom U.S. officials said were members of Tren de Aragua, a group designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the U.S. government. <\/p>\n The president said that the vessel departed Venezuela and was shot in international waters. Trump added that the vessel was en route to the U.S. and that no U.S. servicemembers were injured in the Tuesday morning operation. <\/p>\n \u201cPlease let this serve as notice to anybody even thinking about bringing drugs into the United States of America,\u201d Trump wrote on Truth Social. \u201cBEWARE!\u201d<\/p>\n On Friday, the president warned<\/a> that if Venezuelan planes threaten U.S. assets in the region, they will be \u201cshot down.\u201d <\/p>\n When asked if the U.S. is seeking regime change in Venezuela, Trump told reporters at the White House that \u201cwe are not talking about that, but we are talking about the fact that you had an election which was a very strange election to put it mildly.\u201d <\/p>\n \u201cWhen I see boats coming in like loaded up the other day with all sorts of drugs, probably fentanyl mostly, but all sorts of drugs, we are gonna take them out and if people wanna have fun going on the high seas or the low seas\u2026there are gonna to be in trouble.\u201d <\/p>\n Even before Tuesday’s boat strike, Venezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, said<\/a> the country has \u201cdeclared maximum preparedness\u201d as the U.S. military bolstered its maritime force in the Caribbean, in what the administration argued is an effort to combat threats from Latin American drug cartels. <\/p>\n Maduro, whose U.S. bounty<\/a> for his arrest went up to $50 million earlier this year, said Monday that the administration\u2019s military buildup in the region was an \u201cextravagant, unjustifiable, immoral and absolutely criminal and bloody threat.\u201d<\/p>\n Other top administration officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, indicated that more strikes against drug traffickers in the Caribbean will take place. <\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve got assets in the air, assets in the water, assets on ships, because this is a deadly serious mission for us, and it won\u2019t, it won\u2019t stop with just this strike,\u201d Hegseth said<\/a> this week while on \u201cFox & Friends.\u201d \u201cAnyone else trafficking in those waters who we know is a designated narco-terrorist will face the same fate, and it\u2019s important for the American people to protect our homeland and protect our hemisphere.\u201d <\/p>\n Tensions flared on Thursday after two Venezuelan F-16 fighter planes flew near<\/a> a U.S. Navy destroyer, in what the DOD said was a \u201chighly provocative move” “designed to interfere with our counter narco-terror operations.\u201d <\/p>\n The U.S. military deployed<\/a> 10 F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico to aid in fighting against Latin American drug cartels. <\/p>\n The Treasury Department sanctioned<\/a> the so-called Cartel de los Soles, characterizing it as a Venezuela-based criminal organization led by Maduro and other Venezuelan officials. The U.S. accused the group of drug and human trafficking, money laundering, sexual exploitation of women and children and extortion. <\/p>\n After imposing sanctions, the U.S. military began moving some assets to the region. <\/p>\n Now, the administration has<\/a> at least eight warships, a nuclear-powered submarine, surveillance planes and over 4,500 Marines and sailors near Venezuela. <\/p>\n In order to \u201cdismantle\u201d transnational criminal organizations and counter narcoterrorism, Hegseth directed the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group\/22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit and the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie to the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) area, Defense Department spokesman, Col. Chris Devine, told The Hill on Saturday.<\/p>\n The USS Gravely and the USS Jason Dunham, two Aegis guided-missile destroyers, are currently in the southern Caribbean. Additionally, the U.S. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment teams are currently operating in the \u201cregion,\u201d according to Devine.<\/p>\n \u201cThe Secretary also ordered the deployment of air assets to strengthen U.S. whole-of-government detection, monitoring, and interdiction capabilities to sustain pressure on TCO [Transnational Criminal Organizations] networks throughout the region,\u201d Devine said in a statement.<\/p>\n The enhanced U.S. force presence in the SOUTHCOM region will enhance the military\u2019s capacity to \u201cdetect, monitor and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity\u201d of the U.S., according to Devine.<\/p>\n \u201cThese forces will enhance and augment existing Joint Interagency Task Force \u2013 South and USSOUTHCOM capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle TCOs and FTOs,\u201d Devine added on Saturday.<\/p>\n USS Jason Dunham, which had two Venezuelan F-16s buzz by on Thursday, reportedly had another encounter with a Venezuelan fighter plane overnight Thursday, CBS News reported<\/a>, citing DOD officials. <\/p>\n A Pentagon official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Hill on Saturday that the department is not \u201caware of a second incident involving Venezuelan aircraft near U.S. ship.\u201d <\/p>\n Maduo said any U.S. military action would be met with a response and accused Rubio, who is also serving as Trump\u2019s national security adviser, of attempting to lure the president into a conflict in the region. <\/p>\n