The rapid U.S. military buildup in the southern Caribbean Sea culminated this week with a deadly strike against a drug vessel that the Trump administration said had departed from Venezuela.
U.S. officials said the attack on a speedboat on Tuesday killed 11 drug traffickers. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio both said the military would carry out more strikes in the coming weeks as part of a counternarcotics and counterterrorism campaign.
But on Thursday, two armed Venezuelan F-16 fighter jets buzzed a Navy guided-missile destroyer in the region in a show of force, dialing up tensions between Washington and the government of President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela.
In response, the Pentagon dispatched 10 F-35 stealth fighters to Puerto Rico on Friday to deter more Venezuelan flyovers.
Here is a look at how the United States and Venezuela got to this point, and what military action might come next.
Why is the U.S. sending warships and surveillance planes to the Caribbean?
President Trump signed a still-secret directive in July ordering the Pentagon to use military force against some Latin American drug cartels that his administration has labeled “terrorist” organizations.
Around the same time, the administration declared that a Venezuelan criminal group was a terrorist organization and that Mr. Maduro was its leader.
Soon after, the Pentagon began amassing a small armada of ships and planes to monitor the supposed drug traffickers and to pick targets to attack.
The U.S. Navy has long intercepted and boarded ships suspected of smuggling drugs in international waters, typically assigning a Coast Guard officer temporarily in charge to invoke law enforcement authority. Tuesday’s direct attack in the Caribbean was a marked departure from that decades-long approach.
How much military force has the Pentagon assembled in the region?
The military so far has deployed eight warships, several Navy P-8 surveillance planes and one attack submarine to the region. The Pentagon has offered few details on the force’s objectives and locations.
The Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group — including the U.S.S. San Antonio, the U.S.S. Iwo Jima and the U.S.S. Fort Lauderdale, carrying 4,500 sailors —was steaming near Puerto Rico on Friday, Defense Department officials said. So was the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, with 2,200 Marines. The Iwo Jima is equipped with AV-8B Harrier attack aircraft.
Two Navy guided-missile destroyers — the U.S.S. Jason Dunham and the U.S.S. Gravely — are operating in the southern Caribbean. Both warships had recently joined the campaign against the Houthi militia in the Red Sea. A third destroyer, the U.S.S. Sampson, now in the eastern Pacific, may soon join, one Navy official said.
These warships are Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers, equipped with more than 90 missiles, including surface-to-air missiles. They can conduct antiaircraft and anti-submarine warfare, and shoot down ballistic missiles.
In addition, the guided-missile cruiser U.S.S. Lake Erie and the littoral combat ship Minneapolis-St. Paul are also operating in the Caribbean.
How has Venezuela responded?
Mr. Maduro has warned that he would respond to any U.S. military action with an “armed fight,” and claimed that Mr. Rubio was trying to draw Mr. Trump into a war in the Caribbean that would taint his reputation.
“Mr. President, Donald Trump,” the Venezuelan leader said earlier this week, “watch out, because Mr. Rubio wants to stain your hands with blood.”
Mr. Maduro called the naval buildup “the greatest threat that has been seen on our continent in the last 100 years,” in the form of “eight military ships with 1,200 missiles” targeting Venezuela.
The Venezuelan leader also announced that he was deploying 4.5 million militiamen around his country, and vowed to “defend our seas, our skies and our lands” from any incursions.
What other military action might the U.S. take?
The size of the military buildup has led to speculation over whether Mr. Trump’s real goal is to oust Mr. Maduro, through military action or other pressure.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, was asked recently about the troop movements and whether the administration was considering putting forces on the ground in Venezuela. She responded by calling Mr. Maduro illegitimate and invoking his indictment, late in the first Trump administration, on U.S. drug trafficking charges.
Mr. Trump, she said, was “prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice. The Maduro regime is not the legitimate government of Venezuela. It is a narco-terror cartel.”
Military historians point to other provocative conditions that preceded important American military episodes in the second half of the 20th century.
In December 1989, the administration of President George H.W. Bush sent more than 20,000 American troops to invade Panama and arrest its strongman leader, Manuel Noriega, who had been indicted in the United States on drug trafficking charges. Mr. Noriega was convicted in 1992 and died in Panama City in 2017.
The U.S. force now in the Caribbean is too small to conduct a land invasion of Venezuela, military officials said. But Special Operations commanders say commandos could launch targeted raids or capture-or-kill missions from the Navy ships.
Mr. Maduro has threatened to respond to an armed attack in Venezuela with “maximum rebellion.”
After the Venezuelan fighter flyover on Thursday, the Trump administration issued a veiled threat of more attacks to come.
“The cartel running Venezuela is strongly advised not to pursue any further effort to obstruct, deter or interfere with counternarcotics and counterterrorism operations carried out by the U.S. military,” the Pentagon said in a statement.
Eric Schmitt is a national security correspondent for The Times. He has reported on U.S. military affairs and counterterrorism for more than three decades.
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