Top US navy adviser excursions Caribbean as strain on Venezuela deepens | Drugs News | USAEMALL.com

The trip underscores the growing role of the US military buildup to pressure Venezuela over alleged drug-trafficking operations.

The United States’ top military officer traveled to Puerto Rico on Monday as Washington continues one of its largest naval deployments in the Caribbean in decades, escalating tensions with Venezuela centred on alleged anti-drug operations.

Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and President Donald Trump’s chief military adviser, met with troops stationed in Puerto Rico and on board a Navy warship in regional waters on Monday. Caine’s office said the visit would allow him to “engage with service members and thank them for their outstanding support to regional missions”.

It is Caine’s second trip to the region since the Pentagon expanded its operations in the Caribbean, including the deployment of the Gerald R Ford, the Navy’s newest and largest aircraft carrier. During the first trip, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the deployed Marines were “on the front lines of defending the American homeland”.

An E/A-18G Growler aircraft lands on the flight deck of the world’s largest aircraft carrier, Ford-class aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), during flight operations in the western Atlantic Ocean. U.S. military forces are deployed to the Caribbean in support of… pic.twitter.com/QUWEUeCOAx

— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) November 24, 2025

The operation comes as Trump considers further measures against Venezuela, including aggressive options he has declined to rule out. The administration’s maritime strikes on vessels it says were engaged in drug trafficking have killed at least 83 people on 21 boats. No evidence has been released showing narcotics were on board, and legal experts say the strikes would likely violate international law even if drug activity were proven.

Speaking to his advisers on Monday, Trump said he plans to talk directly with Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on an unidentified date.

Roughly 15,000 US personnel are now in the Caribbean, among them Marines on amphibious ships and about 5,000 service members based in Puerto Rico. Washington has also intensified joint drills with Trinidad and Tobago, launching a second round of exercises within a month aimed at curbing violent crime and drug trafficking.

Caine is expected to visit Trinidad and Tobago tomorrow to meet with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.

Terror designation heightens pressure

The US has increased pressure on Caracas by designating the Cartel de los Soles – or Cartel of the Suns – as a foreign terrorist organisation (FTO), despite the network not being a cartel in the conventional sense. Until this year, the FTO label was largely limited to groups such as al-Qaeda and ISIL (ISIS) with political motives.

On Monday, Washington formally designated the Cartel de los Soles for allegedly shipping narcotics into the US. The administration says the network includes Maduro and senior Venezuelan officials, though it has provided no evidence. Venezuela denounced the move, calling it a “ridiculous” effort to sanction a “non-existent” group.

The designation follows earlier measures against eight Latin American criminal organisations involved in drug trafficking and migrant smuggling. US officials claim the Cartel de los Soles has collaborated with Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang – itself designated an FTO – to move drugs northward.

Officials have rarely identified which groups they believe are behind the boats targeted by US strikes. Hegseth said last week the new designation would provide a “whole bunch of new options to the United States” in dealing with Maduro. Asked whether such options might include land strikes inside Venezuela, he said “nothing is off the table, but nothing’s automatically on the table.” Sanctions experts have noted that the FTO statute does not authorise military action.

Caracas pushes back

Maduro’s government denies involvement in criminal operations and accuses Washington of seeking regime change to control Venezuela’s resources.

“They want Venezuela’s oil and gas reserves. For nothing, without paying. They want Venezuela’s gold. They want Venezuela’s diamonds, iron, bauxite. They want Venezuela’s natural resources,” said Oil Minister Delcy Rodriguez on state television.

Foreign Minister Yvan Gil echoed that view, saying the US designation revives “an infamous and vile lie to justify an illegitimate and illegal intervention against Venezuela”.

InSight Crime, a foundation that analyses organised crime, has described the cartel narrative as an “oversimplification”, saying it “is more accurately described as a system of corruption wherein military and political officials profit by working with drug traffickers”.

The US campaign has also drawn sharp domestic debate within the country. A Reuters poll suggested that only 29 percent of Americans support killing suspected traffickers without judicial oversight. A former senior Treasury official said FTO designations were never intended to justify military operations. “Never had it been suggested that by designating an entity as an FTO it would … meet the standard for military action,” the official said.