President Donald Trump ordered three Navy destroyers to the waters off Latin America to combat drug cartels.
The USS Gravely, USS Jason Dunham, and USS Sampson, supplemented with several thousand Marines, will be used as part of Trump’s ambitious plan to use the military to fight the threat from Latin American drug cartels. The three Arleigh Burke-class destroyers are fresh off a deployment to the Red Sea to combat the Houthis’ war on international shipping.
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The deployment drastically steps up the military resources allocated for the Pentagon’s quest to destroy Latin American drug cartels. The U.S. has already deployed several P-8 spy planes, at least one warship, and at least one attack submarine will also be allocated to SouthCom, a source familiar with the deployment told the Washington Examiner last week.
The Pentagon also deployed over 4,000 Marines and sailors from the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit to U.S. Southern Command, according to CNN.
The Washington Examiner reached out to the Pentagon for comment.
Trump repeatedly vowed during his 2024 campaign to unleash the U.S. military on Latin American drug cartels. After designating several cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations earlier in his term, earlier this month, Trump reportedly ordered the U.S. military to deploy assets to combat the cartels.
Analysts also noted the geopolitical implications of the destroyers’ deployment, coming amid increasingly belligerent rhetoric against Venezuela. The State Department has accused Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of assisting drug cartels in the country, and recently upped the bounty on his head to $50 million.
“For pure counter narcotics operations, the multibillion-dollar Aegis destroyers are overkill,” former SOCOM and U.S. European Command head, retired Adm. James Stavridis, told the Wall Street Journal. “Coast Guard cutters would do just as well. But as a signal to Nicolás Maduro, the arrival off his coast of dozens of Tomahawk missiles, shore-bombardment capability, a thousand Navy sailors, and intelligence-gathering capacity is a very strong one.”
“I think it sends a strong signal to Maduro that his narco-terrorist assault on the U.S. will no longer be tolerated,” former Vice Adm. John Miller told the outlet.
Maduro has sounded the alarm over the increasingly hostile positioning from the U.S., announcing he was mobilizing over 4.5 million militiamen to defend the country.
“This week, I will activate a special plan with more than 4.5 million militiamen to ensure coverage of the entire national territory — militias that are prepared, activated, and armed,” he said in an address on state television.
The Venezuelan militia, founded by Maduro’s popular predecessor, Hugo Chavez, is alleged by officials to contain 5 million people — nearly one-sixth of the entire Venezuelan population. Multiple sources reported that the actual number is believed to be much smaller.
Trump’s positioning to use the military against drug cartels has also triggered panic in Mexico City. Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum quickly ruled out the prospect of the U.S. military striking cartel targets within Mexico.
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“The United States is not going to come to Mexico with their military,” she said during a press conference earlier this month.
“We cooperate, we collaborate, but there will be no invasion. It’s off the table, absolutely off the table,” Sheinbaum continued, adding that the Mexican government was informed of the executive order directing the military to act, but insisted that “it had nothing to do with the participation of any military or any institution on our territory. There is no risk that they will invade our country.”