US deploys spy planes, a warship and submarine in escalating response to massive threat in Southern Caribbean Sea
By Me;issa Koenig
Daily Mail
Aug 14, 2025
In February, the State Department designated several cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. Members of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) are pictured at an undisclosed location, in Michoacan state, Mexico, July 2022
The United States has ordered the deployment of spy planes, a warship and even a submarine to the Southern Caribbean Sea to address the growing threat posed by Latin American drug cartels.
The directive marks yet another escalation by President Donald Trump, who has long wanted to use the military to go after the drug gangs that he has designated as global terrorist organizations.
Just last week, he had ordered the Pentagon to prepare military options in the region, and the Department of Defense has now ordered the deployment of US air and naval forces, two sources briefed on the decision told Reuters.
The Trump administration has also previously deployed at least two warships to help in border security efforts and drug trafficking - an issue that the president focused on in his campaign.
The US military has also already increased its airborne surveillance of Mexican drug cartels to collect intelligence to determine how to best counter their activities.
Trump has even offered to send US troops to Mexico to help combat drug trafficking, an offer Mexico refused.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum even declared that the country will never accept the presence of the United States Army in their territory.
'This deployment is aimed at addressing threats to U.S. national security from specially designated narco-terrorist organizations in the region,' one of the sources explained.
The Department of Defense has begun deploying air and naval forces to the Southern Caribbean Sea at President Donald Trump's urging
In February, the State Department designated several cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. They include notably Mara Salvatrucha (also known as MS-13) and Tren de Aragua along with others.
The department said the gangs constituted a 'national security threat beyond that posed by traditional organized crime.'
The Trump administration added a few more to the list in July; the Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, explaining that the cartels were run by the President of Venezuela, along with other leaders on his staff.
The Treasury Department also accused Cartel de los Soles of giving material help to other cartels, like the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico and Tren de Aragua, asserting they were 'threatening the peace and security of the United States.'
Secretary of State Marco Rubio put out a statement days after, blasting Nicolas Maduro, saying his regime is 'not a legitimate government' and that he is 'not the president of Venezuela'.
He added that Maduro, 'has corrupted Venezuela's institutions to assist the cartel's criminal narco-trafficking scheme into the United States.'
In an interview last week, Rubio explained that designating these cartels as terrorist groups would permit the US to use all the tools in their toolbox, like intelligence agencies and the Department of Defense.
'We cannot continue to just treat these guys as local street gangs. They have weaponry that looks like what terrorists, in some cases, armies, have,' Rubio said. 'Drug dealing is the kind of terrorism they're doing, and it's not the only.'
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel has a heavily armed militia
But legal experts have questioned whether strikes against cartels could violate international law if forces kill members who don't pose an 'imminent threat' at the time of the attack.
Brian Finucane, senior advisor to the International Crisis Group and former legal adviser at the State Department, told the Daily Mail that unilateral US drone strikes in another country would likely violate the United Nations charter and possibly even US law on assassinations.
'To the extent the US military would be taking detainees, there are significant questions of the authority for detention outside of the civilian criminal justice system,' he said.
Brandon Buck, a foreign policy research fellow at the Cato Institute, also told the Daily Mail that Trump is on his weakest legal ground to use unilateral force in Mexico.
'Unlike the prolonged conflicts of the Middle East, where multiple presidents cited authorizations for the use of military force, such legal avenues are not present' for Mexico operations, Buck explained.
He then warned Trump that he may risk significant diplomatic fallout with Mexico.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the Pentagon for comment.
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