By Steve Holland
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. has ordered the deployment of 10 F-35 fighter jets to a Puerto Rico airfield to conduct operations against drug cartels, two sources briefed on the matter said, in a move likely to further inflame tensions in the region.
The advanced fighter jets will be added to an already bristling U.S. military presence in the southern Caribbean as President Donald Trump carries out a campaign pledge to crack down on groups he blames for funneling drugs into the United States.
Friday’s development comes three days after U.S. forces attacked a boat that Trump said was carrying “massive amounts of drugs” from Venezuela, killing 11 people. The strike appeared to set the stage for a sustained military campaign in Latin America.
The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the 10 fighter jets are being sent to conduct operations against designated narco-terrorist organizations operating in the southern Caribbean. The planes should arrive in the area by late next week, they said.
The U.S. has deployed warships in the southern Caribbean in recent weeks, with the aim of carrying out Trump’s crackdown.
Seven U.S. warships and one nuclear-powered fast attack submarine are either in the region or expected to be there soon, carrying more than 4,500 sailors and Marines. U.S. Marines and sailors from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit have been carrying out amphibious training and flight operations in southern Puerto Rico.
The buildup has put pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has called “effectively a kingpin of a drug narco state.”
Maduro, at a rare news conference in Caracas on Monday, said the United States is “seeking a regime change through military threat.”
U.S. officials have not said what legal justification was used for Tuesday’s air strike on the boat or what drugs were on board.
Trump said on Tuesday, without providing evidence, that the U.S. military had identified the crew of the vessel as members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which Washington designated a terrorist group in February.
(Reporting by Steve Holland; editing by Scott Malone and Edwina Gibbs)
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