Illustrative image. (U.S. Navy photo by Lithographer Seaman Apprentice Bryant Kurowski)
CNN on August 15 provided more details about the United States’ recent decision to deploy air and naval forces to Latin America and the Caribbean to address the threat posed by drug cartels.
The deployment was first reported by Reuters a day earlier. It came in as a part of the efforts the administration of President Donald Trump is making to counter drug trafficking into the U.S.
In a first step, the U.S. designated last February Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and other drug gangs as well as Venezuelan criminal group Tren de Aragua as global terrorist organizations. A report from The New York Times released earlier this month alleged that Trump had secretly signed a directive to begin using military force against the groups.
Citing two U.S. defense officials, CNN said that the U.S. military was deploying more than 4,000 Marines and sailors on the counter-cartel mission.
The deployment will include sending Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit to the U.S. Southern Command, according to the news network, which also revealed a wider allocation of assets to the command’s aerial of responsibility in recent weeks, including the deployment of a nuclear-powered attack submarine, additional P8 Poseidon reconnaissance aircraft, several destroyers and a guided-missile cruiser.
A third person familiar with the matter told CNN that the additional assets are “aimed at addressing threats to U.S. national security from specially designated narco-terrorist organizations in the region.”
One of the officials emphasized that the military buildup is for now mostly a show of force, but noted that it also gives Trump and his military commanders a broad range of options should they decide to actually take action against the cartels.
While the U.S. is closely coordinating with Mexico to counter drug cartels, it has a long running enmity with the government of Venezuela.
Earlier this month, the U.S. announced that it had doubled the reward for the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro from to $50 million.
The Trump administration has accused Maduro of being the world’s biggest drug trafficker and of working with cartels to smuggle fentanyl-laced cocaine. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil said that the new reward was “pathetic” and labeled it “political propaganda”.
While the threat posed by the cartels is real, using military force could have serious consequences, especially in Mexico where it could cause a cross-border conflict.
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