Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, is visiting Puerto Rico this week to meet with troops in U.S. Southern Command amid growing tensions between the United States and Venezuela.
Gen. Caine and his senior enlisted adviser, David L. Isom, traveled Monday to Puerto Rico and met with troops stationed on Navy ships off the coast of the territory, thanking them for their “dedicated, unwavering service in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility.”
The pair was expected to remain in the area until Tuesday, when Gen. Caine and Mr. Isom will travel to Trinidad and Tobago to meet with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
The visit is the general’s second to the region in recent months and comes as the U.S. continues its massive deployment in the Caribbean. At least a dozen U.S. naval warships have been deployed to the area, including the USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy’s largest and most advanced aircraft carrier.
About 15,000 U.S. military personnel have been deployed to the region in recent months, many of them Marines. U.S. forces have reportedly conducted military exercises in the Caribbean near the Venezuelan coast.
The deployment is part of a larger pressure campaign against Venezuela, which the White House says is governed by an illegitimate president, Nicolás Maduro. President Trump and his allies say Mr. Maduro is the leader of a state-run drug cartel — the Cartel de los Soles, which has shipped fentanyl and other illicit substances into the U.S.
The Maduro government has denied allegations that it controls the cartel and has argued that the U.S. is seeking regime change to take control of Venezuela’s natural resources, namely oil.
The Trump administration has categorized the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization and has launched airstrikes on 21 alleged drug trafficking boats traveling in the Caribbean this year. The strikes have killed at least 83 people whom the White House has called “narco-terrorists,” though the Trump administration has provided little evidence showing there were illegal drugs on board.
Despite the strikes, Mr. Trump said Monday that he plans to have one-on-one talks with Mr. Maduro at some time in the near future.
Previously, Mr. Trump has refused to rule out U.S. military strikes on Venezuela and said he authorized U.S. intelligence services to carry out covert operations within the country.
