Since Labor Day weekend, the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit has been drilling with the National Guard in southern Puerto Rico. The nearly 4,500 sailors and Marines of USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group recently deployed from Norfolk.
The Marines are practicing amphibious landing and jungle training. According to a release posted on a Department of Defense website, “The challenging terrain and tropical climate of Puerto Rico provides an ideal environment for the 22nd MEU to conduct realistic amphibious training.”
A defense official familiar with the operation in the Caribbean said the training is only part of their mission and that the three ships of the amphibious ready group are conducting enhanced counter-narcotics operations as part of a larger U.S. build up in the region around Venezuela in the southern Caribbean.
The Norfolk-based destroyer USS Gravely and the submarine USS Newport News are also in the region. In a statement to WHRO, Col. Chris Devine, senior Department of Defense spokesman, said “the Secretary of Defense directed the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group/22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit and the Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie to the U.S. Southern Command.”
The statement also confirmed that the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Jason Dunham, USS Gravely and USS Sampson are also in the region. The ships have been part of an expanded mission to seal the southern border that began in March. The Navy ships have been carrying Coast Guard law enforcement teams which have arrest powers.
Along with the ships, the Navy has also deployed surveillance planes and drones “to strengthen U.S. whole-of-government detection, monitoring, and interdiction capabilities to sustain pressure on transnational criminal organization networks throughout the region,” Dunham said.
In recent days, much of the build up of U.S. forces has been centered around Venezuela. The Trump administration does not recognize President Nicolas Maduro as the legitimate head of government in the country and has been putting increasing pressure on the country.
Trump took the unprecedented step this week of ordering the destruction of a small craft, which he said was carrying drugs and 11 members of Tren de Aragua, the Venezuelan gang that the president has targeted since returning to office. The White House has not provided additional evidence to support the claim or provided the legal framework for which would allow the U.S. to destroy the boat and kill everyone on board.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said again Thursday that destroying the fast boat was designed to send a message to the cartels. He said the U.S. could take further action in the region.
