The Pentagon’s two top leaders traveled to Puerto Rico amid growing tensions with Venezuela and its leader, Nicolas Maduro. The U.S. territory is serving as a staging ground for the arrival of equipment and personnel as the Trump administration continues bringing assets to the fight against drug cartels. The Trump administration considers Maduro a narco-terrorist and cartel leader.
During his visit, Hegseth flew a U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey to the USS Iwo Jima, the lead ship in the Iwo Jima Amphibious Readiness Group (ARG). The ship is part of the counter-narcotics effort and currently stationed about 30 miles south of Puerto Rico.
The visit was embraced by Puerto Rico’s governor.
“Honored to welcome Secretary of War Pete Hegseth…along with General Dan Caine, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff…to Puerto Rico,” Jennifer González-Colón said on X Monday morning. President Donald Trump last week signed an executive order changing the name of the Department of Defense to the Department of War.
“We thank POTUS Trump and his Administration for recognizing the strategic value Puerto Rico has to the national security of the United States and the fight against drug cartels in our hemisphere, perpetuated by narco-dictator Nicolas Maduro. We are proud to support America First policies that secure our borders and combat illicit activities to protect Americans and our homeland.”
Hegseth and Caine met with González-Colón at the Muñiz Air National Guard Base in Isla Verde, according to the Puerto Rican El Nuevo Dia media outlet.
The War Secretary “delivered a message to nearly 300 soldiers there, according to the governor, who was accompanied by the adjutant general of the National Guard. Colonel Carlos José Rivera Román, and the Secretary of Public Security, Arturo Garffer,” the publication reported.
The visit to Puerto Rico comes as some 4,500 sailors and Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) continue to conduct amphibious landing training exercises that began Aug. 31.
“Although the Pentagon initially reported that these were routine exercises, the increased military presence in Puerto Rico—which has sparked protests—was gradually linked to the Trump administration’s show of force in waters near Venezuela,” El Nuevo Dia posited.
The Pentagon has declined to comment about the trip to Puerto Rico by Hegseth and Caine, but it comes a day after U.S. President Donald Trump offered an ominous response to a question about whether American forces will strike drug cartel targets inside Venezuela.
“Well, you’re going to find out,” Trump answered. He offered no further explanation about what he meant.
The U.S. has already carried out one kinetic strike, against a suspected drug boat operated by the Tren de Aragua (TDA) cartel. TDA has been deemed a narco-terror organization by Trump. The attack destroyed the vessel, killing 11 people on it, Trump announced last week. The incident has raised questions about killing suspects without a trial and the use of force without Congressional approval.
Trump and Hegseth have both said that deadly strikes against cartels will continue.
Images emerged on social media of at least two MQ-9 Reaper drones in Puerto Rico. They appear to be there as part of the counter-narcotics mission. These aircraft can carry a variety of missiles as well as sensors for surveillance and can loiter for more than 24 hours over a target, making them an ideal platform for these missions. Reuters took a photo of one of the Reapers carrying sensor pods and armed with AGM-114 Hellfire missiles.
The New York Times reported that a Reaper could have been involved in the boat attack.
We have reached out to the Air Force, Pentagon and White House for further clarification, as well as details about how often, if at all, Reapers have been so deployed to fight drug trafficking in the Caribbean. We also asked for comment on whether at least one Reaper took part in the attack on the drug boat, which is a likely scenario. The Air Force deferred us to the Pentagon. We will update this story with any pertinent details provided.
Of note is that the U.S. in the past months has operated MQ-9 variants over Mexico in the fight against cartels there. There have also been unarmed variants operated by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seen in Puerto Rico.
In response to the boat attack, Venezuelan Air Force F-16 Vipers conducted a flight near the Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer USS Jason Dunham, a U.S. official confirmed to us. CBS News reported a second encounter, but The War Zone cannot independently verify that.
Meanwhile, Trump on Friday said that U.S. Navy ships can shoot down Venezuelan aircraft that “put us in a dangerous position.”
The Dunham is one of at least eight warships, including a Los Angeles class nuclear-powered submarine, that have been ordered to the Caribbean by Trump. A U.S. official told us on Monday that those ships have not moved since we wrote about this deployment last week.
As we recently pointed out, the American leader also ordered 10 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to deploy to Puerto Rico, though it remains unclear where they will come from, when they arrive and what they will do once they get there. However, as we have previously pointed out, the F-35 offers a lot of capabilities. In addition to carrying out strikes, these fifth-generation aircraft also have a variety of sensors that make it an ideal intelligence-gathering platform. You can read more about that here.
In addition, open source flight trackers have pointed that numerous U.S. transport aircraft have been making trips to Puerto Rico. There have been no official indications that additional troops are on the way for this effort; however, the transports could be carrying manpower and materiel needed for a sustained campaign.
While ostensibly to counter drug trafficking, a source familiar with these operations told us that the deployments are also a message to Maduro.
The Venezuelan leader was indicted in a New York federal court in 2020, during the first Trump presidency. He and 14 others, including several close allies, were hit with federal charges of narco-terrorism and conspiracy with the Colombian FARC insurgent group to import cocaine. The U.S., as we previously mentioned, has issued a $50 million reward for his capture.
Speaking of, Maduro, on Sunday, he claimed he was moving 25,000 more troops to the border with Colombia in an effort to fight drug traffickers. Whether that is a real deployment or will have any effect on U.S. operations is unlikely.
As we have noted, the presence of high-end assets like 10 F-35s does not necessarily signal that the U.S. is planning to go to to war directly with Venezuela.
As more assets arrive in the region in the coming days, we will keep you informed on how the mission develops.
Update: 5:13 PM Eastern –
The Pentagon released a video of Hegseth addressing troops aboard the Iwo Jima.
“Make no mistake about it, what you’re doing right now, it’s not training,” he proclaimed. “This is the real-world exercise on behalf of the vital national interests of the United States of America to end the poisoning of the American people.”
Contact the author: howard@thewarzone.com