Early this week, the world’s attention snapped to the Caribbean, where the USS Gerald R. Ford—America’s largest aircraft carrier—anchored in a show of force that hasn’t been seen in the region for years. The move marked the latest escalation in what the Pentagon, as of Thursday, has officially dubbed Operation Southern Spear. According to reporting by DW and USA Today, the mission involves a flotilla of U.S. warships, fighter jets, drones, and thousands of military personnel patrolling the waters off Venezuela’s coast. Their stated goal? To stem the flow of drugs from South America to the United States and to “remove narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secure our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people,” as U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted on X.
Since late August, the U.S. has dramatically ramped up its presence in the southern Caribbean. In early September, American forces launched the first of what would become 20 deadly attacks on boats that U.S. officials allege were smuggling narcotics from Venezuela. The scale of the operation is striking: about a dozen warships, including destroyers, cruisers, landing craft, and a nuclear submarine, now patrol the area. The USS Gerald R. Ford, recently withdrawn from the crisis in the eastern Mediterranean, is now a centerpiece of this Caribbean deployment. Altogether, roughly 12,000 U.S. military personnel are involved—an unusually large force for what’s officially described as an anti-smuggling campaign.
But the operation’s ambitions seem to stretch far beyond seizing speedboats. President Donald Trump and his administration have repeatedly characterized Venezuela’s government, led by President Nicolás Maduro, as a criminal cartel. The U.S. has placed a staggering $50 million bounty on Maduro’s head, accusing him of leading the so-called Cartel de los Soles, an alleged drug trafficking ring run by Venezuelan military officials. “Maduro’s days as president are numbered,” Trump has declared, signaling a hard line that has drawn both support and alarm at home and abroad.
For critics of the Trump administration, Operation Southern Spear is more than a counter-narcotics effort—it’s a provocative, and possibly dangerous, escalation. The government in Caracas, along with several regional allies, sees the U.S. naval buildup as a direct threat to Venezuelan sovereignty. Fears have mounted that Washington could be laying the groundwork for military intervention aimed at toppling Maduro’s increasingly authoritarian regime. According to DW, these concerns are hardly unfounded, given the scale of the U.S. deployment and the administration’s rhetoric branding Maduro as a “narco-terrorist.”
Still, the Trump administration has not confirmed any plans for a direct attack on Venezuelan soil. As of mid-November, Trump has yet to make a final decision on whether to escalate further. But the signals are mixed. On one hand, Trump has campaigned on a promise to keep American troops out of new foreign wars—a pledge he’s mostly kept so far. On the other, his officials argue that the Western Hemisphere is “America’s neighborhood,” and that extraordinary measures are warranted to protect it. “The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood—and we will protect it,” Hegseth wrote, echoing a familiar refrain of U.S. foreign policy stretching back more than a century.
That long and checkered history looms large over the current standoff. As USA Today points out, the United States has intervened—sometimes overtly, sometimes covertly—in Latin American affairs for generations. From the CIA-backed coup in Guatemala in 1954 to the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba, the Dominican intervention of 1965, and the 1989 Panama invasion, U.S. actions have often left deep scars. The pattern continued with interventions in Haiti, Chile, Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Grenada, each marked by a mixture of stated ideals and messy, sometimes tragic consequences.
“This could end up being a very messy affair,” warned Brett Bruen, a former U.S. diplomat who served in Venezuela, speaking to USA Today. Bruen argued that while the goal of restoring democracy and undermining narco-trafficking in Venezuela is laudable, “this isn’t the way to do it. It’s playing into Maduro’s hands.” He cautioned that any U.S. strike could provoke “asymmetric attacks”—potentially targeting American tourists or businesses elsewhere in Latin America.
Yet, as Will Freeman of the Council on Foreign Relations noted, U.S. intervention isn’t always unwelcome. In some countries plagued by cartel violence and predatory governments, a sizable portion of the population is open to outside help. Freeman cited polling in Mexico showing about 30% of respondents would support unilateral U.S. strikes against drug cartels. “For people living under cartels, gangs and predatory governments, their biggest concern is not U.S. involvement; it’s keeping themselves safe,” Freeman explained.
Meanwhile, Venezuela is hardly standing by. President Maduro has seized on the U.S. buildup to rally his supporters, denouncing American “imperialism” and mobilizing his country’s defenses. In mid-November, Venezuela’s armed forces staged a massive military exercise involving about 200,000 participants. Maduro claims to have activated 4.5 million militia members, a move intended to demonstrate resolve and readiness against any foreign threat.
The international community has responded with a mix of criticism and caution. China’s diplomatic envoy in Washington stated that while Beijing supports the fight against transnational crime, it cannot come at the expense of human rights or maritime safety. Russia’s Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, called for restraint and adherence to international law, warning against destabilization in the region. NATO allies have voiced their own concerns: French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot told reporters that U.S. military actions in the Caribbean “violate international law,” while the EU’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas urged respect for legal norms at a recent EU-CELAC summit.
Perhaps most notably, the United Kingdom reportedly ceased sharing intelligence with the U.S. related to these operations as of early October, citing concerns about legality and a desire not to be complicit in what it considers unlawful actions. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has denied these claims, but the episode underscores the unease among America’s closest allies.
As the standoff enters its next phase, the risks and stakes are clear. The U.S. has the firepower to strike hard, but history offers a cautionary tale about the unintended consequences of intervention in Latin America. For now, all eyes remain on the Caribbean, where the world’s largest aircraft carrier sits at anchor—a symbol of both American might and the region’s enduring volatility.