Three U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers have been deployed off the coast of Venezuela as part of President Donald Trump’s plan to combat drug cartels in Latin America.
A source familiar with the move confirmed to Scripps News that the destroyers include the USS Gravely, the USS Jason Dunham and the USS Sampson. The deployment will bring the U.S. military posture in the area to about 4,000 sailors and Marines.
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According to Reuters, the broader region will also have several Boeing P-8 Poseidon spy planes, warships and at least one attack submarine. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was asked about the U.S. military going after drug traffickers late last week and said it's a goal President Donald Trump has made clear.
"There are designated narco-terrorist groups operating in the region, some of them utilizing international airspace, international waters, to transit poison into the United States," Rubio said. "And those groups will be confronted."
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced Monday that his country will mobilize more than four million militia members, saying that they will be "prepared, activated and armed" throughout Venezuela. He added in the televised address that his country will "defend our seas, our skies and our lands."
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It comes after the Trump administration offered a $50 million reward for the arrest of Maduro earlier this month, claiming the Venezuelan president has been working with cartels to traffic fentanyl and other drugs in the U.S.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will not escape justice and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said at the time.
Maduro was indicted in 2020 — during President Trump's first term in office — on federal charges related to drug trafficking and narco-terrorism. But despite the U.S. raising the bounty for Maduro multiple times in the years since, he has evaded arrest.
