The United States military presence in the Caribbean, which exerts maximum pressure on the government of the Venezuelan president Nicolas Madurohas growing logistical and diplomatic support from several countries in the region.
Nations of America provide varying degrees of support, from overt support to those that, at least rhetorically, limit their collaboration with American forces.
that Washington claims to be transporting drugs, have already left more than 80 people dead, without the White House presenting any evidence to support the claims.
Next, see which countries support the US military presence in the Caribbean.
Trinidad e Tobago
The most vocal support came from Trinidad and Tobago, which is just 11 kilometers off the coast at its closest point, in the far north of South America.
When the US began its military presence in August, Trinidadian Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar declared her full support for the maneuvers, which Washington says are aimed at combating drug trafficking.
Furthermore, the Prime Minister warned that if Venezuela attacked Guyana, a country with which it has territorial claims, it would grant access to the US government for defense purposes.
In doing so, Persad-Bissessar demonstrated his willingness to abandon the neutrality policy which he had maintained for years, seeking a pragmatic relationship with Venezuela, guided by economic interests.
“I, like most of the country, am pleased with the success of the US Navy’s mission,” the prime minister said in early September, when the US first attacked a vessel in the .
All drug traffickers “should be violently killed,” she added.
In late October, the US Navy destroyer USS Gravely arrived in Trinidad and Tobago to conduct military exercises for several days, maneuvers that the Venezuelan government called “a hostile provocation.”
Furthermore, Maduro announced the suspension of bilateral gas agreements due to “the prime minister’s threat to turn Trinidad and Tobago into the aircraft carrier of the American empire against Venezuela.”
Already this week, the US began new military exercises in Trinidad and Tobago, which Maduro described as “irresponsible” plans.
Trinidad and Tobago Foreign Minister Sean Sobers said the exercises would continue “due to ongoing violence and criminal gang activity.”
Amid these events, the Caribbean country’s former prime minister, Keith Rowley, denied having signed an agreement with the United States that would allow Washington to use the country as a base to attack neighboring nations.
The Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), signed in 2007, regulates the temporary presence and activities of US military personnel in Trinidad and Tobago, and its most recent update removed a specific expiration date.
Guiana
Venezuela’s shortest land border (789 kilometers) is also currently the most tense.
Territorial disputes with Guyana intensified after the 2023 referendum, promoted by Maduro, to create the state of Guiana Essequiba in one.
In August, shortly after the start of the US military presence in the Caribbean, the Guyanese government endorsed the maneuvers.
In a statement, the government said it “reaffirms its support for a collaborative and integrated approach to combating transnational organized crime.”
The statement added that it “considers with grave concern the threat to peace and security in the region posed by transnational organized crime and narco-terrorism, which often involve criminal networks such as Cartel of the Suns of Venezuela”.
According to Washington, this group is led by Maduro and is allegedly responsible for drug trafficking to the US and Europe, accusations that Caracas denies and classifies as an “invention”.
The head of US Southern Command, Admiral Alvin Holsey, visited Guyana this month to “promote regional security and stability” and met with senior officials to discuss “the long-standing defense alliance” between the two countries, according to the US Embassy.
The meeting also aimed to “promote regional security and stability”, the statement added.
El Salvador
In early November, a U.S. Air Force attack plane was spotted in El Salvador at the Comalapa Cooperative Security Base, according to photos and satellite images obtained by CNN.
The aircraft can carry the missile Hellfirebut is mainly armed with large caliber cannons. The AC-130J seen in images from El Salvador had two cannons visible on the left side of the aircraft.
Until recently, the Salvadoran base was used almost exclusively for unarmed aircraft, according to U.S. Southern Command.
Its coastal location provides a strategic position for the American campaign in the Pacific, as the reach of bases in the Caribbean is limited.
“Operating from Comalapa offers more options and allows us to monitor and defend a much larger area of the Pacific Ocean, through which much of the cocaine trafficked to the United States passes,” he explained to CNN Dr. Ryan Berg, director of the Americas Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
El Salvador’s president, Nayib Bukele, has not commented specifically on the US military presence, but maintains a close relationship with Trump: he was the first (and so far the only) leader from the region to be received in the Oval Office during the Republican president’s second term.
Panama
United States military personnel are carrying out training exercises in Panama, although President José Raúl Mulino’s government is trying to downplay the situation.
Last week, the president denied that his country was participating in any “hostile act against Venezuela” and stated that the military maneuvers were due to bilateral cooperation agreements with Washington. “In relation to Venezuela, we have nothing to do with it,” he emphasized.
Panama, which has not had an armed force since 1990, has been a frequent site of military exercises since the 1989 US invasion.
In April, Panama and the US signed a cooperation memorandum that allows for a greater military presence, authorizing the use of air and naval bases for joint exercises.
Mulino, defending cautious cooperation, claims that these activities are not related to the White House’s pressure on Venezuela.
Dominican Republic
The Dominican president, Luis Abinader, stated on Monday (17) that the country will launch, together with the DEA (United States Drug Enforcement Administration), “much more extensive and in-depth” actions to combat drug trafficking.
On the same day, Dominican authorities reported having intercepted a vessel with 806 packages of cocaine off the coast of Pedernales province.
The DNCD (National Directorate of Drug Control) stated that the operation was carried out in support of Operation Southern Spear, the name given by the Pentagon to the military presence in the region.
The collaboration had already begun last week, when authorities seized another shipment of almost 500 packages of cocaine on a vessel, also in support of the American operation.
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico is an autonomous United States territory in the Caribbean and therefore not an independent country, but the island plays a key role in the current situation.
The region is also home to the largest US military operation, in addition to being the Caribbean territory with the largest number of Pentagon military bases.
Puerto Rico once had 11 of these military centers, and currently maintains Fort Buchanan, Fort Allen, Muñiz Air Base and Campo Santiago, as well as parts of the former Ramey and Roosevelt Roads bases.
In late September, US Marines, who support US Southern Command missions, participated in amphibious landing exercises in Puerto Rico, according to official images.
Naval Station Roosevelt Roads, which had been closed since 2004, is back in operation, according to satellite images and photographs taken at the base.
Other Bases
The United States maintains two other bases in the Caribbean, although in these cases they are far from representing support from host countries.
The Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in southeastern Cuba is a military enclave that has facilitated logistical and surveillance operations in the region since 1903.
Military activities, intelligence operations and naval support functions are carried out there.
The Cuban government, an ally of Venezuela, has repeatedly rejected US military deployment in recent months.
Washington also maintains an air base in Honduras, known as “La Palmerola,” in the center of the country, which it has operated since 1982. According to its website, it is staffed by more than 500 American military personnel and 500 Honduran and American civilians.
In January, before Trump’s inauguration, Honduran President Xiomara Castro questioned whether the military base would be maintained if the US implemented its mass deportation plan.
In August, the president classified the accusations against Maduro as “unfounded” and later expressed her opposition to the US military deployment in the Caribbean.
Political support: Ecuador, Paraguay, Argentina
Other countries outside the Caribbean have demonstrated support for the strategy.
In August, Ecuador designated it as an “organized crime terrorist group”, considering it “a threat to the national population”.
The decree was signed by President Daniel Noboa, a close ally of Washington, who also tried to eliminate the ban on foreign military bases in the country through a referendum, but his proposal was rejected.
O Paraguay also declared the Cartel de los Soles an “international terrorist organization”, with a decree that obliges the Paraguayan State to “redouble its efforts” to combat and prevent transnational crime.
In turn, the Argentine government, another ally of the White House, declared the group a “terrorist organization”.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that the decision “is based on official reports that prove illicit transnational activities, including drug trafficking, smuggling and illegal exploitation of natural resources, as well as links with other criminal structures in the region”.
