2025 US Caribbean naval deployment

2025 US Caribbean naval deployment
Part of the 2025 U.S. military campaign against cartels and the war on cartels
USS Sampson USS Lake Erie USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul USS Gravely USS Jason Dunham USS Iwo Jima USS Fort Lauderdale USS San Antonio USS Newport News P-8 Poseidon 2025 US Caribbean naval deployment (Caribbean) Approximate Navy locations as of September 2 according to Newsweek
Location	Southern Caribbean
Planned by	United States
Objective	Combating drug trafficking
Date	August 2025 (2025-08) – present
Executed by	United States Navy
Casualties	14 killed

In late August 2025, the United States began a naval buildup in the southern Caribbean with the stated goal of combating drug trafficking. As part of the operation, a US strike on September 2 sank a boat—coming from Venezuela and allegedly carrying illegal drugs—killing 11 people. Experts interviewed by the media speculated about the true goal of the operation, suggesting that intimidation of the Nicolás Maduro regime in Venezuela was a likely goal.

Background

Main article: 2025 U.S. military campaign against cartels

In January 2025, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order that directed the US State Department to label certain Western Hemisphere drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and specially designated global terrorists. In February, the Trump administration designated Tren de Aragua, a criminal organization from Venezuela; MS-13; and six Mexico-based groups as foreign terrorist organizations, saying at the time they posed "a national-security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime." In July, the US designated the Cartel de los Soles, a purported criminal organization that the US alleges has ties to Venezuelan leadership, as a terrorist organization. At the time, the US State Department's Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs posted on X that it would use "all the resources at our disposal to prevent Maduro from continuing to profit from destroying American lives and destabilizing our hemisphere."

The Trump administration has accused President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro of trafficking drugs into the US. Earlier in August, the Trump administration raised to $50 million a bounty for the arrest of Maduro over what it alleges to be his role in drug trafficking. Maduro was indicted in the US on drug charges including narcoterrorism in 2020. On August 8, Trump signed an order to allow the use of military force against Latin American drug cartels it considers terrorist organizations. At the time, an anonymous US official told Reuters that military action against those groups did not seem imminent; another official told Reuters that powers granted in the order included allowing the Navy to carry out sea operations including drug interdiction and targeted military raids.

Deployment

According to The Economist, the US typically has "two or three American warships and Coast Guard cutters" on patrol in the southern Caribbean. As of September 8, the deployment includes eight ships: the guided-missile destroyers USS Gravely, USS Jason Dunham, and USS Sampson; the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima and the amphibious transport docks USS San Antonio and USS Fort Lauderdale; the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie; the littoral combat ship USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul; and the nuclear fast attack submarine USS Newport News. According to the Financial Times, "Five of the eight vessels are equipped with Tomahawk missiles, which can hit land targets." The Iwo Jima, Fort Lauderdale, and San Antonio left Norfolk, Virginia on August 14, carrying 4,500 marines and sailors, including the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit. According to the US Naval Institute this marked "the first time a U.S.-based Amphibious Ready Group with embarked Marines has deployed since December." Historian Alan McPherson stated that the naval buildup is the largest in the region since 1965.

Response

On August 18, Maduro said the US "has gone mad and has renewed its threats to Venezuela's peace and tranquility". He "announced the planned deployment of more than 4.5 million militia members" around Venezuela, per The Associated Press, and started militia enrollment on August 23. The Economist was sceptical of the announcement, stating, "Election receipts show he received fewer than 3.8m votes last year; it is improbable that more people would fight to defend him than would vote for him." On August 25, Maduro "said 15,000 'well armed and trained' men had been deployed to states near the Colombian border," per The Economist. On August 26, Venezuela's defense minister announced a naval deployment around Venezuela's main oil hub. Following the September 2 strike, Maduro said that the US was "coming for Venezuela's riches". On September 4, two Venezuelan F-16s flew near a US warship.

Gustavo Petro, President of Colombia, initially suggested that any attack on Venezuela would equal an attack on Latin America and the Caribbean, and thus Colombia's armed forces could support Venezuela; he later moderated his position.

Analysis

According to The Economist, "Few ... think drugs are the sole or even the main focus" of the operation, noting that fentanyl, the drug that causes the most deaths in the US, is almost entirely "synthesised in Mexico and trafficked north over land" and that "the hardware"—e.g destroyers—"doesn't match the task" of drug policing. According to The Economist, "All this makes the most sense if the principal intent is to rattle Mr Maduro, give succour to Venezuela's opposition or even stir an uprising within the Venezuelan armed forces—encouraged perhaps by that recently doubled reward." Experts speaking to Reuters and the BBC described the deployment as gunboat diplomacy to pressure the Maduro administration.

Experts speaking to the BBC said that the September 2 strike was potentially illegal under international maritime and human rights law. Though the US is not a signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, previous US policy had been to "act in a manner consistent with its provisions"; countries are not supposed to interfere with ships in international waters except in cases such as hot pursuit out of a country's territorial waters. Law professor Mary Ellen O'Connell said that the strike "violated fundamental principles of international law". Luke Moffett of Queen's University Belfast, also a law professor, stated that striking the ship without grounds of self-defense could be extrajudicial killing. BBC News argued that "Questions also remain as to whether Trump complied with the War Powers Resolution, which demands that the president 'in every possible instance shall consult with Congress before introducing United States Armed Forces into hostilities'".

Regarding the September 2 strike, Geoffrey Corn, former senior adviser on the law of war to the US Army, said "I don't think there is any way to legitimately characterize a drug ship heading from Venezuela, arguably to Trinidad, as an actual or imminent armed attack against the United States, justifying this military response."

Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Kamla Persad-Bissessar praised the deployment and the September 2 strike, saying "the U.S. military should kill [all drug traffickers] violently." Foreign Minister of Barbados Kerrie Symmonds said that foreign ministers in CARICOM wrote to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio asking that military operations in the Caribbean not be conducted without prior notice or explanation. The deployment was endorsed by the government of Guyana, two-thirds of its territory being claimed by Venezuela, with Guyana's vice president and former president Bharrat Jagdeo telling The Financial Times "You cannot trust Maduro". According to Havana Times:

The announcement of the naval deployment has reignited tensions and divided positions in the region: while the Cuba–Venezuela–Nicaragua axis denounces an imperialist offensive, several Caribbean and South American countries have hardened their stance against Maduro and the Cartel of the Soles.

See Also

• Narco-submarine
• Air Bridge Denial Program
• 2001 Peru Cessna 185 shootdown
• Operation Gideon (2020)
• Piracy in the Caribbean#Caribbean piracy in the 21st century