The United States has ordered additional naval ships to position in the southern Caribbean Sea in response to the presence of drug cartels in Latin America, President Donald Trump said Tuesday, 26 August.

The US is deploying the USS Lake Erie, a guided missile cruiser, and the USS Newport News, a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, both expected to arrive by early next week.

Trump earlier ordered the deployment of other naval assets, including the USS San Antonio, USS Iwo Jima, and USS Fort Lauderdale, which arrived Sunday with a combined force of 4,500 service members, including more than 2,200 Marines. Reports also said the USS Gravely, USS Jason Dunham, and USS Sampson were ordered to patrol off the coast of Venezuela.

These measures are part of Trump’s directives to counter narcotics operations, branding Latin American drug cartels as perpetrators of violence by trafficking drugs into the US and calling it a national security threat.

"Latin America has got a lot of cartels, they got a lot of drugs flowing. So we want to protect our country, we have been doing this for four years," Trump said.

US pressure on Mexico, Venezuela

For Washington, the influx of illegal drugs has become a major security concern, prompting expanded operations in the southern Caribbean near Venezuela’s coast.

Earlier this month, Trump announced a $50 million reward for the arrest of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, accusing him of being a major narco-trafficker allegedly working with cartels to ship drugs into the US. Similar bounties ranging from $15 million to $25 million were previously offered under Trump’s first term and continued under President Joe Biden.

In response to US naval movements, Maduro reportedly deployed 15,000 troops along the border with Colombia to fight drug trafficking. Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said they are also cracking down on narcotics.

“Here, we do fight drug trafficking; here, we do fight drug cartels on all fronts,” Cabello said.

Meanwhile, in Mexico, President Claudia Sheinbaum rejected the possibility of US military involvement on Mexican soil.

"The United States is not going to come [to] Mexico with the military. We cooperate, we collaborate, but there will be no invasion," Sheinbaum said, responding to Trump administration orders targeting cartels.

The US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) earlier announced plans for joint operations with Mexico, but Sheinbaum dismissed the claim.

"The DEA put out a statement, we don't know what it's based on," she said.