The Pentagon is deploying warships to waters around Central and South America, an unusually large naval build-up that has stoked tensions with Venezuela and other Latin American countries.<\/p>\n
The US Navy has sent at least seven vessels, including three guided-missile destroyers, an amphibious assault ship and a guided-missile cruiser, according to people familiar with the matter. A nuclear-powered fast attack submarine has also been deployed, according to one person.<\/p>\n
The Trump administration has billed the move, which involves thousands of sailors and marines, as part of its efforts to combat drug trafficking by cartels.<\/p>\n
The White House has used increasingly hostile rhetoric about Venezuela\u2019s President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, referring to him as \u201cillegal\u201d and accusing him of trafficking drugs. <\/p>\n
Maduro called up militiamen in response to the US deployment, while Colombian President Gustavo Petro has suggested his country\u2019s armed forces could support Venezuela if it is attacked.<\/p>\n
Asked whether the US was planning to deploy troops in Venezuela, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said last week that Trump was \u201cprepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country\u201d.<\/p>\n
She added that Maduro was \u201cnot a legitimate president\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is a fugitive head of this cartel,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the US counter-narcotics effort needed \u201ca whole-of-government effort and through co-ordination with regional partners\u201d, adding that Trump was seeking to \u201celiminate the ability of these cartels to threaten the [US\u2019s] territory, safety, and security\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Pentagon would not speculate on future operations, he added.<\/p>\n
But analysts said the scale of the deployment suggested the US operation may go beyond its stated focus on drugs trafficking.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is a force whose nature and size is not consistent with counter-drug operations,\u201d said Evan Ellis, a member of former secretary of state Mike Pompeo\u2019s staff in Trump\u2019s first administration. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe logical mission would be a snatch-and-grab operation to bring Maduro to justice,\u201d he added, though he cautioned that he was not convinced Trump was \u201ccommitted to pulling the trigger on it yet\u201d.<\/p>\n
Two warships, the USS Jason Dunham and USS Gravely, are now off Venezuela\u2019s coast, said a person familiar with the mission. A third guided missile destroyer, the USS Sampson, is currently in the Pacific just south of Panama, said a US official.<\/p>\n
The amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima and two supporting vessels, carrying more than 4,500 military personnel in total, are also on their way to the region, according to the person familiar.<\/p>\n
The US Navy is also deploying the guided missile cruiser USS Lake Erie and the nuclear submarine USS Newport News to the region, the person said. <\/p>\n
Five of the eight vessels are equipped with Tomahawk missiles, which can hit land targets.<\/p>\n
Trump has taken an aggressive stance on alleged foreign drug operations, signing an executive order early in his second term designating some drug cartels as foreign terrorist organisations. <\/p>\n
His administration\u2019s policy on Venezuela has zigzagged between verbal attacks on Maduro and behind-the-scenes negotiations for hostage releases and oil deals with Caracas.<\/p>\n
Ellis, who teaches at the US Army War College, said the composition of the force headed for waters off Venezuela would allow Washington to put \u201ca lot of forces on the ground pretty quickly\u201d via air and sea. <\/p>\n
The size of the deployment has evoked memories of US missions to Haiti in 1994 to remove the military regime led by Raoul C\u00e9dras and in Panama to depose General Manuel Noriega in 1989.<\/p>\n
Maduro, a revolutionary socialist, began his third term in January after an election last year that was widely regarded as fraudulent.<\/p>\n
He has given a series of combative speeches in recent days in response to the US-build up, and claimed to have called up 4.5mn militia members to defend the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe bow to no one \u2014 not today, not ever,\u201d Maduro said on Wednesday. \u201cLet it be clear: we will never accept anyone else\u2019s supremacy over us.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Venezuela\u2019s defence minister Vladimir Padrino L\u00f3pez announced a naval deployment to waters near the country\u2019s main oil hub. The governments of Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago, which neighbour Venezuela, have endorsed the US deployment. Venezuela claims two-thirds of Guyana\u2019s territory, and previously sent naval patrols to contested waters.<\/p>\n