The US Military Just Sent a Clear Message to Maduro and Venezuela
The US naval force sent to the southern Caribbean will reinforce the pressure on drug cartels and a belligerent Venezuelan regime that benefits from them.
The Monroe Doctrine makes a house call.
Photographer: Martin Bernetti/AFP/Getty Images
In the southern Caribbean, a powerful US naval buildup is underway off the coast of Venezuela. It includes three of the US Navy’s formidable 10,000-ton Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers and an amphibious strike group centered on two huge 25,000-ton San Antonio-class warships carrying US Marines, helicopters and beach landing craft.
The destroyers carry highly accurate 1,500-mile land-attack Tomahawk cruise missiles; very sophisticated air defense and intelligence collection capability; and two multi-purpose helicopters each. The big amphibious ships can move their “main battery” – a Marine Expeditionary Unit of 2,500 Marines – ashore very quickly anywhere along the northern coast of South America. A nuclear-powered attack submarine may be operating in the area as well. Collectively, well over 4,000 sailors and Marines and at least half-a-dozen major warships are operating a thousand miles from the US in an area with dense commercial shipping, operating oil and gas platforms, fishing activity, and cruise ships.
Why is this high-powered deployment occurring now, and what is its objective?