By DÁNICA COTO
SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico (AP) — U.S. Protection Secretary Pete Hegseth and Air Power Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Employees, arrived in Puerto Rico on Monday because the U.S. steps up its navy operations in opposition to drug cartels within the Caribbean.
Their arrival within the U.S. territory comes greater than per week after ships carrying tons of of U.S. marines deployed to Puerto Rico for a coaching train, a transfer that some on the island have criticized.
Puerto Rico’s Gov. Jenniffer González mentioned Hegseth and Caine visited on behalf of President Donald Trump’s administration to help these collaborating within the coaching.
“We thank President Trump and his administration for recognizing the strategic significance of Puerto Rico to U.S. nationwide safety and for his or her struggle in opposition to drug cartels and the narco-dictator Nicolás Maduro,” González mentioned.
Hegseth and Caine met with officers on the 156th Wing Muñiz Air Nationwide Guard Base in Carolina, a metropolis simply east of the capital of San Juan.
González mentioned Hegseth spoke to just about 300 troopers on the base and thanked these he described as “American warriors” for his or her work.
The go to comes because the U.S. prepares to deploy 10 F-35 fighter jets to Puerto Rico for operations focusing on drug cartels, an individual acquainted with the planning mentioned Saturday. The individual spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of details about the deployments has not been made public.
Tensions escalating
On Sept. 2, Trump introduced that the U.S. carried out a strike within the southern Caribbean in opposition to a vessel that had left Venezuela and was suspected of carrying medicine. Eleven folks had been killed within the uncommon U.S. navy operation within the Caribbean, with the president saying the vessel was operated by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Whereas the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago praised the strike and mentioned the U.S. ought to kill all drug traffickers “violently,” response from different Caribbean leaders has been extra subdued.
Barbadian Overseas Minister Kerrie Symmonds just lately instructed The Related Press that members of Caricom, a regional commerce bloc, despatched a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio asking for an open line of communication on developments. He mentioned they wish to keep away from being shocked by any U.S. strikes in opposition to Venezuela.
In the meantime, Venezuela’s authorities on Monday insisted that the U.S. is falsely accusing it of enjoying a vital position within the international drug commerce. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez instructed reporters the U.S. authorities ought to redirect its just lately deployed maritime drive to the Pacific, the place quick boats and container ships have lengthy carried Colombian cocaine.
“These ships which are making an attempt to intimidate Venezuela right now ought to be there within the Pacific if they really wished to struggle and stop cocaine from reaching america of America,” she mentioned. “They’ve a GPS location downside. They’re the place they shouldn’t be. They should calibrate their GPS.”
Rodríguez, citing experiences from the United Nations and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, added that Venezuela “has completely nothing to do with the deaths of (U.S.) residents from drug overdoses” because the nation “will not be related” in international drug manufacturing.
She instructed the U.S. ought to give attention to preventing consumption inside its borders.
“There’s plenty of hypocrisy, plenty of double requirements, plenty of political manipulation of this difficulty to assault, to intervene, to purpose for regime change in nations that aren’t sympathetic,” she mentioned, referring to drug trafficking.
‘No to Struggle’
The continuing coaching of the Marines in Puerto Rico and the upcoming deployment of fighter jets have rankled some within the U.S. territory, the place the reminiscences of the U.S. Navy utilizing close by islands as coaching ranges within the Nineteen Forties stays contemporary, with the cleanup nonetheless ongoing.
The April 1999 dying of civilian safety guard David Sanes Rodríguez sparked massive protests on the time, finally resulting in the U.S. navy leaving the island. Rodríguez was killed after two 500-pound bombs had been dropped close to him as a part of a coaching mission in Vieques.
On Sunday, dozens of individuals gathered on the Nationwide Guard base in Carolina to decry the heightened U.S. navy presence on the island.
They held indicators that mentioned, “No to Struggle” and “No to navy bases in P.R.”
Organizers additionally warned in opposition to using Puerto Rico as a staging floor for potential U.S. navy actions within the area.
“We denounce the existence of navy bases in Puerto Rico,” mentioned Sonia Santiago Hernández, founding father of Moms Towards Struggle.
González has dismissed these issues, saying that Puerto Rico is enjoying an essential position in Trump’s ongoing struggle in opposition to drug trafficking because it represents a U.S. border within the Caribbean.
Marines in Puerto Rico
Siul López, a spokesman for Puerto Rico’s Nationwide Guard, instructed The AP {that a} group of Marines at present coaching on the island will not be tied to the U.S. maritime drive just lately deployed to Caribbean waters.
“One factor has nothing to do with one other,” he mentioned, including that the coaching in Puerto Rico was pre-planned.
López mentioned he didn’t know when precisely the coaching train in Puerto Rico was first deliberate however famous that such workouts are often deliberate a few 12 months prematurely.
He mentioned the coaching started on Aug. 31 however that he doesn’t know when it’ll finish, nor what number of Marines are concerned.
He mentioned they’re working towards amphibious maneuvers with a wide range of automobiles.
In the meantime, González mentioned final week that she estimates greater than 1,000 Marines had been on the island.
The U.S. Marine Corps issued a press release on Aug. 31 noting that marines and sailors from the twenty second Marine Expeditionary Unit could be conducting amphibious coaching and flight operations in southern Puerto Rico.
“The difficult terrain and tropical local weather of Puerto Rico offers a really perfect setting for the twenty second MEU to conduct sensible amphibious coaching and hone specialised expertise corresponding to patrolling, reconnaissance and survival methods, guaranteeing a excessive degree of readiness whereas ahead deployed,” the Marine Corps mentioned in a press release.
It wasn’t instantly clear how lengthy Hegseth and Caine deliberate to remain in Puerto Rico, or in the event that they deliberate to go to different websites whereas on the island.
López, the Nationwide Guard’s spokesman, declined to touch upon specifics of the go to.
Related Press reporter Will Weissert in Washington D.C., Regina García Cano in Caracas and AP videographer Alejandro Granadillo in San Juan, Puerto Rico, contributed.
Comply with AP’s protection of Latin America and the Caribbean at https://apnews.com/hub/latin-america
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