Overview
- Defense officials ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford into the Central and South America command area to reinforce operations against drug trafficking.
- The USS Gravely arrived in Port of Spain with a Marine unit for exercises as the United States increases warships and aircraft in the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico.
- Since early September, Washington has claimed ten strikes on alleged traffickers’ boats with at least 43 people killed, including six in the latest attack it linked to Tren de Aragua without providing public evidence.
- Venezuela held coastal defense drills and mobilized reservists as President Nicolás Maduro accused the United States of inventing a war and cited 5,000 portable anti-air missiles.
- The U.S. Treasury designated Colombian President Gustavo Petro on a narcotics-related list, heightening regional fallout as UN human rights officials and legal experts question the strikes’ legality.