President Donald Trump has ordered a troop buildup in the Caribbean as part of an anti-trafficking initiative, but speculation has abounded that Washington may be contemplating military intervention against Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro.
The US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), which oversees American forces in Latin America and the Caribbean, had previously said that the USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group had entered its area of responsibility.
On Sunday, it announced in a statement that the strike group had entered the Caribbean Sea, saying the move follows Trump's "directive to dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations and counter narco-terrorism in defense of the Homeland."
The strike group includes the most advanced US aircraft carrier, two guided-missile destroyers, and other support vessels and aircraft.
It joins several warships already in the Caribbean, with the deployment dubbed "Operation Southern Spear."
As part of that operation, Southcom announced that a new strike took place on Saturday in the eastern Pacific, killing three suspects.
Since launching the anti-trafficking military campaign in September, US forces have killed at least 83 people accused of ferrying drugs in international waters, according to an AFP tally of publicly released figures.
The United States has released no details to back up its claims that the people targeted -- in both the Caribbean and eastern Pacific -- in the more than 20 strikes were actually traffickers.
Experts say the deaths amount to extrajudicial killings even if they target known traffickers.
- 'Irresponsible' -
Caracas meanwhile views the military buildup as an explicit threat.
The United States does not recognize Maduro as Venezuela's legitimate president and has issued a $50 million bounty for his capture to face charges of leading a drug cartel.
Amid reports that Trump held meetings with military advisors on potential options for Venezuela, the US president on Friday told reporters he had "sort of" made up his mind on the issue.
"I can't tell you what it is, but we made a lot of progress with Venezuela in terms of stopping drugs from pouring in," he said aboard Air Force One.
He had previously said in a CBS News interview that he doubted the United States would go to war with Venezuela, but that he believed Maduro's days were numbered.
The US military has also been stepping up its presence in Trinidad and Tobago, an archipelago just off Venezuela's coast.
US and Trinidadian forces were due Sunday to begin joint training exercises for the second time in less than a month. On Saturday, Maduro blasted the drills as "irresponsible."
Maduro decries US-Trinidad and Tobago military exercises as 'irresponsible'
Caracas (AFP) Nov 16, 2025 -
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday slammed new joint military exercises by the United States and its ally Trinidad and Tobago as "irresponsible," with Washington increasing its armed presence in the Caribbean.
Caracas claims recent US military activity in the region -- which Washington says is directed against drug gangs -- is really a ploy to overthrow leftist leader Maduro.
This is the second joint training exercise carried out by the United States and Trinidad and Tobago in less than a month.
In October, a US guided missile destroyer docked at Trinidad for four days for another round of practice drills -- within firing range of Venezuela, whose government called it a "provocation."
"The government of Trinidad and Tobago has once again announced irresponsible exercises, lending its waters off the coast of Sucre state for military exercises that are intended to be threatening to a republic like Venezuela, which does not allow itself to be threatened by anyone," Maduro said during an event in Caracas on Saturday.
Maduro called on his supporters in the eastern states of the country to hold "a vigil and a permanent march in the streets" during the military maneuvers, scheduled for November 16-21.
The United States has deployed warships, fighter jets and thousands of soldiers to Latin America in recent weeks and launched strikes on 21 alleged drug-smuggling boats, killing at least 80 people.
Washington has provided no evidence those targeted were traffickers, and rights observer groups say the strikes are illegal regardless.
On Tuesday, a US aircraft carrier strike group also arrived in the region, prompting Caracas to announce a "massive" retaliatory deployment.
US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday announced a military operation aimed at "narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere," but it was unclear how it might differ from the existing US military deployment.
Seven minors killed in Colombian airstrikes on guerrillas this week: ombudsman
Bogota (AFP) Nov 16, 2025 -
Seven minors were killed this week in Colombian military airstrikes against an alleged drug-running armed group in the country's southern Amazon region, the national ombudsman's office said Saturday.
Iris Marin, head of the office, told reporters that "six minors who had been victims of forced recruitment" died in the operation ordered by President Gustavo Petro, who is under US pressure to crack down on drug trafficking.
She later updated the toll to seven, including four girls and three boys, all teenagers.
Colombia's military announced on Tuesday that it had carried out airstrikes in the Amazon region in the early hours of November 10, killing 19 members of an ex-FARC splinter group.
The military also reported the "rescue" of three minors from rebel hands following the bombing.
Additionally, a defense ministry source told AFP on Friday that the military had killed nine suspected guerrillas in strikes in Arauca province, near the Venezuelan border.
The operations are part of Petro's intensifying attacks against armed groups involved in cocaine trafficking, following fierce pressure from US President Donald Trump over his alleged inaction on drug production.
In a Saturday post on X, Petro defended the military's actions in the Amazon operation.
"Of course, every death is regrettable, especially those of minors. But if I had let Ivan Mordisco's 150 men advance through the jungle, they would have ambushed 20 young soldiers who were stationed just a few kilometers ahead," the leftist president said.
"I made the decision, at a risk, to save their lives. It's easy to stain maps red; it's hard to acknowledge the risks of reclaiming territory," Petro added.
The president has launched a manhunt with million-dollar rewards to capture Mordisco, whom he likens to cocaine baron Pablo Escobar, who was slain in 1993.
Defense Minister Pedro Sanchez asserted that the operation was ordered "given the imminence and severity of the threat" that endangered the soldiers.
Local media reported that authorities were investigating whether the latest strike killed Antonio Medina, a high-ranking rebel commander responsible for a bloody war between ex-FARC fighters and the National Liberation Army (ELN) guerrilla group.
- US pressure -
Colombia's president has been facing pre-election criticism and US sanctions for his alleged reluctance to target armed cocaine-trafficking groups.
In October, Washington slapped unprecedented sanctions on Petro, his wife, son, and a top aide, accusing them of enabling drug cartels.
The US government provided no evidence linking Petro directly to drug trafficking.
Since taking power in 2022, Petro, himself a former guerrilla, had previously opted to engage well-armed cocaine-producing groups in talks, rather than conduct open warfare.
He is constitutionally barred from running for president again, but the criticism risks damaging his political allies during next year's elections.
Related Links
Naval Warfare in the 21st Century
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
| Subscribe Free To Our Daily Newsletters |
