US deployment in Caribbean ‘not training’, says defence chief Hegseth

US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s remarks successful Puerto Rico travel amid escalating tensions with Venezuela successful Caribbean.

United States Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has told US Marines connected committee a warship stationed successful Puerto Rico that their deployment to the Caribbean was “not training” successful the latest motion that Washington intends to escalate its assertive posture successful the region.

Hegseth visited troops connected the USS Iwo Jima warship connected Monday, where, successful notation to the administration’s propulsion to curtail cause commercialized into the US, helium said: “What you’re doing close present is not training; this is simply a real-world workout connected behalf of the captious nationalist interests of the United States of America to extremity the poisoning of the American people.”

Hegseth, whose section was precocious renamed by Trump from the Department of Defense to the Department of War, paid a astonishment sojourn to the warship alongside Dan Caine, president of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

In a station connected X, Jenniffer Gonzalez, Puerto Rico’s governor, welcomed Hegseth and Caine and thanked Trump for “recognizing the strategical worth Puerto Rico has to the nationalist information of the United States and the combat against cause cartels successful our hemisphere, perpetuated by narco-dictator Nicolas Maduro”, the president of Venezuela.

Tensions with Venezuela person seen a crisp escalation aft the US sank a vessel from the state successful the Caribbean, sidesplitting 11 people, which President Donald Trump claimed was carrying amerciable narcotics.

In a station connected Truth Social aft the strike, Trump said, “Please fto this service arsenic announcement to anybody adjacent reasoning astir bringing drugs into the United States of America. BEWARE!”

The enactment has been condemned by rights groups arsenic an “unlawful extrajudicial killing”, and has inflamed already roiled relations betwixt Washington and Caracas.

Members of the US Congress criticised the decision, asking what the ineligible ground of the onslaught was. Adam Smith, the astir elder Democrat connected the House Armed Services Committee, said: “There is nary mode connected God’s greenish world you tin accidental that immoderate was successful this vessel presented immoderate benignant of imminent menace to the United States successful a subject consciousness of the word.”

Rand Paul, a Republican legislator who sits connected the Senate Committee connected Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, slammed Vice President JD Vance, who defended the onslaught successful a station connected X, saying: “What a despicable and thoughtless sentiment it is to glorify sidesplitting idiosyncratic without a trial.”

The Trump medication has repeatedly accused Venezuela of trafficking amerciable drugs to the US, but has not presented grounds for its claims. Venezuela’s Maduro, who has historically had fraught ties with the US, has denied the allegations.

“How tin determination beryllium a cause cartel if there’s nary drugs here?” said Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez connected Monday.

Trump has adopted a much stridently assertive posture against Caracas since coming to powerfulness earlier this year, evoking his word successful the White House erstwhile the medication heavy backed an absorption person and was connected the cusp of efficaciously supporting a coup.

Last week, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who has agelong advocated for the US to follow a much confrontational narration with Venezuela, refused to regularisation retired the anticipation of strikes against cause cartels wrong Venezuela, adjacent arsenic Trump ruled retired the anticipation of authorities change.

“We are going to instrumentality connected cause cartels wherever they are, wherever they are operating against the interests of the US,” Rubio said.

The US has reportedly deployed 10 F-35 stealth jets to Puerto Rico arsenic portion of operations against Latin American cause cartels.

Trump besides warned that the US would sprout down Venezuelan jets flying excessively adjacent to US ships, pursuing reports successful US media of 2 specified incidents.

Last week, Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar welcomed the accrued US deployment successful the portion and praised the onslaught against the vas allegedly carrying drugs. “The symptom and suffering the cartels person inflicted connected our federation is immense. I person nary sympathy for traffickers; the US subject should termination them each violently,” Persad-Bissessar said.

However, Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva expressed alarm astir the US naval build-up during a virtual code astatine the BRICS acme connected Monday, saying: “The beingness of the equipped forces of the largest powerfulness successful the Caribbean Sea is simply a origin of tension.”

Source:

Al Jazeera and quality agencies