The United States has launched a sweeping strategy against international drug trafficking, enlisting support from Caribbean and South American allies, including Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana, to confront the Cartel de los Soles, which Washington links directly to Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s regime.
At a White House cabinet meeting on Tuesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told President Donald Trump that “for the first time in the modern era, we are truly on offence against organised cartels that are pumping poison, killer poison, into our cities.” He added that the initiative is about more than blocking narcotics at U.S. borders: “The purpose is not only to stop the entry of narcotics, but to take this battle to the international stage to confront those behind this deadly poison.”
Rubio underscored that Washington is building an international coalition to dismantle drug cartels, noting that countries such as Argentina, Paraguay, Ecuador, Guyana, and Trinidad and Tobago have committed to cooperation. “Countries just in the last week, Ecuador, Paraguay, Guyana, Trinidad, today Argentina, all joining us or trying to be helpful in advancing this,” he said.
The United States has accused the Cartel de los Soles of operating as an extension of the Venezuelan state with backing from high-ranking military officials and Chavismo loyalists, channeling narcotics into the U.S. and threatening national security.
As part of the new push, Trump ordered an expanded U.S. military presence in the Caribbean. Two additional warships — the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie and the nuclear attack submarine USS Newport News — will soon join three vessels already deployed near Venezuela. U.S. officials say the operation is targeting “narcoterrorist groups” tied to Maduro’s government.
Caribbean support
Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar voiced full backing for Washington’s actions, saying she welcomes U.S. assistance in combating drug trafficking. “The truth is the Caribbean is already on fire, engulfed by the flames of illicit drug, gun and arms trafficking,” she told Guardian Media. She dismissed criticism that working with Washington undermines regional independence, insisting that “to partner with America is not to undermine the Caribbean region but to defend it.”
Meanwhile, Guyana has said it supports “the necessity for strengthened cooperation and concerted efforts at the national, regional, hemispheric and global levels to effectively combat this menace,” specifically referencing Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles.
