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Tensions between the United States and Venezuela are rising amid a large U.S. naval buildup in the Southern Caribbean and nearby waters, which U.S. officials say aims to address threats from Latin American drug cartels, Reuters reports.
U.S. President Donald Trump has made cracking down on drug cartels a central goal of his administration, part of a wider effort to limit migration and secure the U.S. southern border.
While U.S. Coast Guard and Navy ships regularly operate in the Southern Caribbean, this buildup is significantly larger than usual deployments in the region, according to Reuters.
A U.S. official, speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, said on Thursday that seven U.S. warships, along with one nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, were either in the region or were expected to be there in the coming week.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has denounced the moves.
The Pentagon has not indicated publicly what exactly the U.S. mission will be, but the Trump administration has said it can now use the military to go after drug cartels and criminal groups and has directed the Pentagon to prepare options.
Venezuela on Thursday complained to U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about the U.S. naval buildup, accusing Washington of violating the founding U.N. Charter.
The Trump administration designated Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel and other drug gangs, as well as the Venezuelan criminal group Tren de Aragua, as global terrorist organizations in February.
Part of the buildup is the USS San Antonio, USS Iwo Jima, and USS Fort Lauderdale. The ships are carrying 4,500 service members, including 2,200 Marines, sources have told Reuters.
The U.S. military has also been flying P-8 spy planes in the region to gather intelligence, officials have said, though they have operated in international waters.
One of the cartels Trump thinks is responsible is the Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns), a group his administration has designated as a terrorist organisation, despite doubts that it even exists, according to Euronews.
In July, the Trump administration suggested that the Cartel of the Suns was led by the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and was backed by other “other high-ranking Venezuelan individuals”. The US government claimed the so-called cartel supports criminal groups such as Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua and Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel by weaponising drug trafficking against the US.
Both Venezuela and its neighbour Colombia insist that the group has no basis in reality.
Experts say that there is no evidence of a group of that name with a defined hierarchy, while an anti-drug report from the US State Department in March did not mention it by name, according to Euronews.