Trump Deploys 4,000 Troops, Aircraft Carrier & Submarine to Latin America to Crush the Cartels
Trump has now taken the fight against the cartels to a new level, sending thousands of troops, naval power, and even a submarine into Latin America and the Caribbean. This comes after the February move to officially designate groups like Mexico’s Sinaloa cartel and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua as global terrorist organizations, a classification that changes everything, placing them in the same category as al-Qaeda or ISIS.
For decades the cartels have been left to grow unchecked, not only flooding the United States with drugs but also running some of the largest human trafficking pipelines on earth. They control routes, territories, and whole regions, moving children, women, and migrants as part of a criminal economy that reaches far beyond Mexico and Venezuela, feeding into a global web of money, corruption, and power.
For years the cartels have operated in tandem with the global financial and political system, laundering their billions through the same banks and serving as the violent underworld arm of a much bigger structure of power.
Trump’s decision to treat them as enemies of the state rather than just organized crime, is a decisive step in dismantling one of the darkest and most entrenched systems in the world, a system built on narcotics, weapons, and human lives, and one that has for too long been allowed to operate in the shadows.
U.S. DEPLOYS 4,000 TROOPS, CARRIER, SUBMARINE, AND MORE ON COUNTER-CARTEL MISSION
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.
Resources:
https://t.me/LauraAbolichannel/74414
https://southfront.press/u-s-deploys-4000-troops-carrier-submarine-and-more-on-counter-cartel-mission/
