A U.S. Navy destroyer-class vessel has been conducting military exercises in the Caribbean alongside several other American ships as the U.S. military continues to build its presence in the region.
It has been conducting missions in the region to track and disrupt maritime drug routes moving north in the direction of Central America and the U.S. The latest exercise allowed the crew to practice handling the ship and coordinating during drug-interception scenarios.
The USS Mahan, another Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer, also undertook exercises with Guyana’s navy on the weekend. Its deployment will be in support of the Southern Command as it continues its crackdown on drug trafficking in the region.
U.S. officials say the deployments support Washington’s aim to prevent illicit drug trafficking, before Donald Trump is set to ramp up the pressure against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro with plans to designate the Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organisation on Monday.
This entity, which Maduro leads, the U.S. government claims, is notably not considered a cartel in the traditional sense. But U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in an earlier preview of the action, accused the Cartel de los Soles, also known as the Cartel of the Suns, of being “responsible for terrorist violence” across the Western Hemisphere.
The U.S. military has been destroying boats near Venezuela that Trump claims are operating as drug trafficking vessels. It has conducted bomber flights up to the coast of Venezuela, sometimes as part of a training exercise to simulate an attack, and sent the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford into the region.
The Ford aircraft carrier and several destroyers were just the latest addition to the most significant U.S. force assembled in the Caribbean Sea near Venezuela in generations. The Trump administration does not see Maduro, who faces charges of narcoterrorism in the U.S., as the legitimate leader of the South American country.
International airlines are also increasingly canceling flights to Venezuela on Sunday, following the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration’s warning to pilots to use caution when flying in the country’s airspace due to worsening security and heightened military activity.
Marisela de Loaiza, president of the Airlines Association in Venezuela, said six carriers have indefinitely suspended flights from November 24 until November 28, including TAP, LATAM, Avianca, Iberia, Gol, and Caribbean. Turkish Airlines.
The FAA warned pilots on Friday that unspecified threats could pose a “potential risk to aircraft at all altitudes”, as well as planes taking off and landing in the country and even aircraft on the ground.
Guyana also has a recent history of tension with Venezuela, after Caracas claimed rights over the resource-rich Essequibo region and held a referendum in December 2023 on whether the region should become part of Venezuela, openly stating its intention to take control of it by force.