Reactions to US Deployment of Warships in the Caribbean
HAVANA TIMES – In mid-August 2025, US and international media, citing Pentagon sources, reported that the United States would launch a naval deployment in the Caribbean under the argument of stopping regional drug cartels.
While Washington maintains that the goal is to fight drug trafficking, the Maduro government in Venezuela warned of an “imperialist threat.” Caracas denounced the maneuver before the United Nations and asked the international community to intervene to “ensure peace in the region.” Maduro—on whose capture the US has placed a 50-million-dollar bounty—framed the military operation as part of the political pressure against his regime.
The so-called “number two” of Chavismo and first vice president of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello, admitted on August 27, 2025, that the ruling elite is intensifying its internal preparations to face “the worst,” and the country declared itself on “maximum alert.”
However, there is no public evidence that the deployment has materialized or any details of the US military operation. According to international press reports, three destroyers, two landing ships, one amphibious assault ship, one cruiser, and one littoral combat ship are (in total) in the region or en route. This information has not been confirmed by the White House, nor has the exact location of the ships been tracked.
This week, the US Army released images of marines performing rifle exercises on the deck of the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima, designed to transport helicopters, coastal surveillance planes, boats, and assault vehicles. That is one of the ships allegedly in the Atlantic Ocean, near Venezuela.
After the alleged naval maneuver, the allies Venezuela–Cuba–Nicaragua were joined by statements from Mexico and Colombia, while countries such as Paraguay, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, and Argentina expressed public support for Washington’s actions.
Cuban Propaganda in Support of Maduro
On Thursday, August 28, 2025, the Cuban Foreign Ministry issued a statement warning that “the US military deployment in the Caribbean Sea threatens the region with absurd pretexts.”
The previous day, Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez received Venezuela’s ambassador to the island, Orlando Maneiro Gaspar, in Havana. In a social media post, Rodriguez stated:
“I expressed our solidarity and support in the face of the military threats and lies promoted by the US government to destroy the Bolivarian and Chavista Revolution, led by President Nicolas Maduro.”
Rodríguei said the same day on social media that the “dispatch by the US of more military ships to the Caribbean creates a serious danger for regional peace and seeks to reimpose its domination on Our America with the ridiculous pretext of fighting drug trafficking (…). It responds to the agenda of corrupt politicians like the US Secretary of State, Marcos Rubio,” he emphasized.
Joining the foreign minister’s statements were those of Prime Minister Manuel Marrero, who conveyed to Maduro: “you can always count on Cuba’s unwavering support”; and Cuban leader Miguel Diaz-Canel, who said on August 25 that “the strength of the Civic-Military Union in Venezuela will defeat the imperialist threats and current attempts to sabotage the country’s development.”
This is the same rhetoric published in a coordinated way by the state media network under the control of the Cuban Communist Party by government officials, and in public statements by the Ministry of the Armed Forces.
In Cuban state propaganda, contextual details are omitted, such as Washington’s justification for its pressure on Maduro stemming from criminal charges against him. Since March 2020, the US Department of Justice has accused him of narco-terrorism, corruption, and conspiring with the so-called Cartel de los Soles, —a network allegedly composed of high-ranking Venezuelan military officers—to smuggle tons of cocaine into US territory. The Cartel de los Soles was designated by the United States in July 2025 as an international terrorist organization.
For the White House, these links make Maduro not only a threat to Venezuelan democracy but also to regional security.
Recently, Karoline Leavitt, spokeswoman for the Trump Administration, stated regarding Venezuela:
“The president has been very clear and consistent. He is prepared to use all elements of US power to stop drugs from entering our country and bring those responsible to justice. The Maduro regime is not the legitimate government of Venezuela. It is a drug-trafficking cartel (…).”
In this context, it was also announced that Cuba’s ambassador to Venezuela would be Jorge Luis Mayo Fernandez, identified as a senior Cuban intelligence officer, who previously served as deputy chief of Cuba’s diplomatic mission in Caracas. He was also ambassador to Nicaragua, another regime allied with Havana.
For its part, the Nicaraguan regime denounced the “persecution against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.” Daniel Ortega said that US aggression “represents a threat to all of Latin America and the Caribbean,” because “today they do it with Venezuela, tomorrow it could be with other countries.”
Sheinbaum Distances Herself, Petro Defends, and Colombian Business Leaders Criticize
After the United States allegedly moved an additional naval force to the southern Caribbean Sea, especially off Venezuela’s coast, President Claudia Sheinbaum reiterated her position of non-intervention.
“We have already done it, we already stated our position here in the morning press conference and through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs: no intervention, we are against interventions,” she said.
For his part, Colombian President Gustavo Petro stated in a Cabinet meeting broadcast to the country that, if an “invasion” were carried out, the United States would turn Venezuelan territory into another Syria and drag Colombia into the problem. Petro also denied the existence of the Cartel of the Soles.
In contrast, former senator and Colombian presidential pre-candidate David Luna, said that Petro’s insistence on denying that organization cannot be interpreted as mere naïveté but rather suggests “complicity” with dictator Maduro, while other countries in the region move forward united in rejecting the presence of the Cartel of the Soles on the continent and condemning its criminal activity.
For his part, Bruce Mac Master, president of Colombia’s largest business association, said there is no scenario in which Colombia and its state can or should support Maduro’s regime.
“It is not only a long standing dictatorship that Venezuela has lived under, but also a regime that has shown particular complacency and complicity with drug trafficking and corruption,” he added.
Trinidad and Tobago Offers Its Waters; Paraguay and Argentina Label the Cartel of the Soles “Terrorist”
Amid growing tensions with Venezuela, France has decided to increase its Caribbean surveillance, sending more ships to Guadeloupe, its overseas territory, as announced by Manuel Valls, Minister of Overseas Territories.
France justified its naval reinforcement as part of an international cooperation strategy against criminal networks operating in the area and emphasized the need to protect its overseas territories, particularly Guadeloupe and Martinique, which are often used as drug trafficking transit points to Europe.
Trinidad and Tobago expressed last week its support for the US naval operation, stating that organized crime and drug trafficking pose a direct threat to Caribbean security. It even went so far as to say it would offer its waters and territory for US operations against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro if Washington requested it to defend Guyana.
Paraguay’s Foreign Minister, Ruben Ramirez, also stated on August 24 that “what is happening between the United States and Venezuela is not an exclusive matter of the United States; it concerns our entire region.” He also noted that President Santiago Peña has labeled the Cartel of the Soles an “international terrorist organization” and that the Paraguayan government considers Maduro an “illegitimate” president.
Meanwhile, the Argentine government also designated the Cartel of the Soless as a terrorist organization, as Ecuador had done earlier; while the Dominican Republic pledged to “combat all cartels, including this one,” according to President Luis Abinader.
The announcement of the naval deployment has reignited tensions and divided positions in the region: while the Cuba–Venezuela–Nicaragua axis denounces an imperialist offensive, several Caribbean and South American countries have hardened their stance against Maduro and the Cartel of the Soles.
First published in Spanish by El Toque and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.