Cartels

Even as the U.S. continues to build up forces in the Caribbean ostensibly for an enhanced counternarcotics operation that could include inland strikes, there are reported plans underway for attacks on cartels inside Mexico.

The San Antonio class amphibious transport dock ship USS Fort Lauderdale has left Mayport, Florida, and is returning to the Caribbean to rejoin the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group (ARG)/22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), a U.S. official confirmed to The War Zone Monday morning. The vessel left on Sunday and is now south of Miami in the Straits of Florida, according to an online ship tracker. It will provide additional air and troop support once it arrives on station. San Antonio class ships can launch and land two CH-53E Super Stallion helicopters or two MV-22 tilt rotor aircraft or up to four AH-1Z, UH-1Y or MH-60 helicopters at once. In addition, they can carry Landing Craft Air Cushion (LCAC) hovercraft or other landing craft and boats in their well deck, and can transport up to 800 Marines.

The Fort Lauderdale is set to rejoin a flotilla of at least eight other surface warships plus a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine arrayed for an enhanced counter-narcotics mission also aimed, at least partially, at Venezuelan dictator Nicholas Maduro. The Henry J. Kaiser class fleet replenishment oiler USNS Kanawha is in the region as well, the Navy official told us. In addition, the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and one of its escort ships, the Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer USS Bainbridge, are currently in the western Mediterranean Sea, heading toward the Caribbean, a U.S. Navy official told The War Zone. It could take as long as another week for those ships to arrive in the Caribbean, the official added.

The MV Ocean Trader – a roll-on/roll-off cargo ship modified to carry special operators and their gear – has also appeared in several places around the Caribbean in recent weeks. Navy officials and U.S. Special Operations Command have declined to comment on this vessel. The ship, which TWZ first reported on back in 2016, has been something of a ghost since entering service, popping up in hot spots around the globe.

There is also an increasing buildup on the land. Reuters noted that the U.S. is continuing to make improvements at the former Roosevelt Roads Navy base for use by combat and cargo aircraft. Since August, the facility has been used as a central logistics hub, with frequent landings by airlifters and by aircraft from the 22nd MEU as well. The new additions include Mobile Aircraft Arresting Systems for stopping incoming fast jets. As we have reported in the past, Marine Corps F-35B stealth fighters are already operating from there and the MAAS can help support I fighters during emergencies. The incoming USS Gerald R. Ford’s air wing, for instance, could use the base as a divert location.

The military has also set up 20 tents at the installation.

📍José Aponte de la Torre Airport, #UnitedStates (🇺🇸)

Recent @Reuters photos from José Aponte de la Torre Airport viewing the ongoing C-17A Globemaster III logistics operations unloading cargo at the former Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Ceiba, Puerto Rico. pic.twitter.com/mgpPjJxwOu

— SA Defensa (@SA_Defensa) November 3, 2025

Satellite images show construction of an ammunition storage facility at the airport at Rafael Hernandez Airport, the second-busiest civilian airport in Puerto Rico.

Reuters also found significant changes at Rafael Hernandez Airport. The US military has moved in communications gear and a mobile air traffic control tower. Satellite images show construction of an ammunition storage facility at the airport -Reuters pic.twitter.com/L3lRCwr3kU

— barry with the NED (@bonzerbarry) November 2, 2025

Beyond Puerto Rico, the U.S. has set up a new radar system at an airport in St. Croix.

A AN/TPS-75, which acts as the primary land-based tactical air defense radar for the U.S. Air Force, seen deployed late last month at Henry E. Rohlsen Airport on the Island of St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands, just to the southeast of Puerto Rico and roughly 450 miles to the… pic.twitter.com/eaC3vEybgU

— OSINTdefender (@sentdefender) November 2, 2025

Despite the buildup, the Trump administration’s goal remains unclear. In an interview on Sunday with CBS News’ 60 Minutes, President Donald Trump offered a mixed message about his plans for Venezuela.

Asked if the U.S. was going to war with the South American nation, Trump answered, “I doubt it. I don’t think so. But they’ve been treating us very badly, not only on drugs – they’ve dumped hundreds of thousands of people into our country that we didn’t want, people from prisons – they emptied their prisons into our country.”

Later in the interview, the president was asked if “Maduro’s days as president are numbered.”

“I would say ‘yeah. I think so, yeah,” Trump responded. The American leader, however, declined to offer any details about what that meant.

“I’m not gonna tell you what I’m gonna do with Venezuela, if I was gonna do it or if I wasn’t going to do it,” he explained when queried about whether he will order land attacks in Venezuela.

As for why the Ford carrier strike group is heading toward the Caribbean, Trump explained, “it’s gotta be somewhere. It’s a big one.”

Officials in Russia, which recently ratified a mutual support agreement with Venezuela, have voiced their support for Maduro.

Moscow “resolutely condemns the use of excessive military force” by the U.S. in the Caribbean,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, adding that Russia fully supports the Venezuelan government in its efforts to safeguard national sovereignty and maintain the region as a “zone of peace.”

Amid the growing tensions, Russian aircraft have landed in Venezuela. potentially with military supplies, Defense News reported last week.

A russian Il-76 landed in Venezuela following Maduro’s appeal to the russian Federation for military assistance, – Defense News.

These aircraft were previously used to transport weapons, military equipment, and even russian mercenaries. pic.twitter.com/M6cC7Srwz8

— Jürgen Nauditt 🇩🇪🇺🇦 (@jurgen_nauditt) November 1, 2025

Meanwhile, as Trump maintains a level of strategic ambiguity about his objectives toward Maduro, the U.S “has begun detailed planning for a new mission to send American troops and intelligence officers into Mexico to target drug cartels,” NBC News reported Monday morning.  That possibility and how it could happen were subjects we examined in great detail back in February, which you can read about here.

While no deployments are imminent, training for such a mission is already underway, the network added.

“The U.S. troops, many of whom would be from Joint Special Operations Command, would operate under the authority of the U.S. intelligence community, known as Title 50 status,” NBC posited, citing two anonymous U.S. officials. ”They said officers from the CIA also would participate.”

These operations would have U.S. troops in Mexico “mainly use drone strikes to hit drug labs and cartel members and leaders,” the report continued. “Some of the drones that special forces would use require operators to be on the ground to use them effectively and safely, the officials said.”

As we have previously wrote, such an operation would be precedent-setting. While U.S. troops like Green Berets from the 7th Special Forces Group routinely work with Mexican forces, training them to hit cartels and serving as observers on raids, there has yet to be a known U.S. military kinetic action inside Mexico.

The most famous example of a covert strike using U.S. troops under Title 50 authority was the 2011 Navy SEAL attack on al-Qaida leader Osama Bin Laden, but what NBC is describing is a much more sustained operation with increased risks, a former White House official under the first Trump administration told us.

“This seems like more of a campaign,” Javed Ali, who worked in the National Security Council’s (NSC) counterterrorism unit during the first Trump administration, explained. “What the administration is trying to achieve under Title 50 is ostensibly to use military force, but covertly. But in this day of social media, it is harder to not have that revealed. They lose the element of surprise.”

As we have previously reported, Mexico’s increasingly well-armed drug cartels pose a serious threat to external forces. Some cartel units are have adopted some of the latest features of warfare. They have been using drones to attack enemies for years now, for instance. These organizations also often move around in increasingly well-protected so-called “narco tanks.” 

Ali raised an additional concern. Would the cartels, who already have operatives in the United States, strike back if they were attacked in Mexico?

“The enemy gets a vote,” Ali suggested. “Would the cartels be so bold to actually conduct attacks inside the United States is an open question. If a cartel lab gets blown up or cartel leaders are killed in drone strikes, how would they respond? Inside the government, I would have to think they are looking at all those contingencies.”

Still, even with these risks, it seems clear the Trump is willing to go further than his predecessors in hopes of significantly reducing the flow of narcotics into the United States. Public support for such actions will likely be dictated by losses of American troops — if any — in the process, should such operations move forward. It’s also not clear where the Mexican government stands on this issue at this time.

It is unknown exactly what the Trump administration will do when it comes to countering cartels and taking on Maduro. However, while U.S. strikes against the Venezuelan cartels have been limited to attacks on alleged drug-smuggling boats, the possibility exists that America could soon find itself conducting kinetic strikes on two fronts in its own backyard.

Update: 5:03 PM Eastern –

The Navy provided us with some context about why the Fort Lauderdale was in Mayport.

“The USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD 28) returned to Naval Station Mayport from Oct. 24 to Nov. 2, 2025, for a mid-deployment voyage repair (MDVR) and maintenance period. NS Mayport’s facilities offered the most expedient option with the best infrastructure, maintenance, repair, and logistical support for the maintenance period.

A Mid-Deployment voyage repair (MDVR) is a period, roughly halfway through a ship’s deployment, where necessary and preventative maintenance and repairs are made. This MDVR allowed Fort Lauderdale to conduct vital maintenance to the ship with the support of in-port services.

In-port maintenance and logistical support enable the ship to correct and maintain materiel readiness, warfighter readiness, and sustainability.”

Contact the author: [email protected]

When a Danish-flagged tanker named Torm Agnes quietly pulled into Mexico’s Port of Ensenada this spring, few took notice. The harbor, better known for cruise liners and pleasure yachts, seemed an unlikely setting for a large-scale energy delivery. But what followed was no ordinary unloading. Within hours, convoys of fuel-hauling trucks began siphoning off diesel from the tanker under the cover of night, an industrial cover that occurred so fast that witnesses said it operated “like clockwork.”

By morning, much of the shipment, worth roughly $12 million, had vanished into the Mexican black market. On paper, the cargo was listed as lubricants, exempt from Mexico’s high import taxes. In reality, it was a vast quantity of U.S.-sourced diesel smuggled by intermediaries working with one of Mexico’s most violent cartels; the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, or CJNG.

This was not a one-off operation. It was part of a sprawling, billion-dollar criminal enterprise linking Mexican cartels, U.S. traders, corrupt officials, and global shipping firms into what security analysts are now calling a “dark fleet.” And it underscores a deeper truth: the cartelization of Mexico’s energy market is no longer a localized issue, it’s a geopolitical problem touching the heart of North American trade, governance, and security.

A New Market Touched by Cartels:

For decades, Mexico’s cartels made their fortune in narcotics. Today, they are energy traders, exploiting systemic weaknesses in Mexico’s tax system and infrastructure to build empires rivaling legitimate fuel companies. According to Mexican officials, bootleg imports may now account for up to one-third of the country’s diesel and gasoline market, worth more than $20 billion a year.

The genius of the scheme lies in its simplicity. Mexico’s IEPS tax, a levy on imported fuels often exceeding 50% of a shipment’s value, creates a powerful incentive to cheat. Smugglers evade this tax by falsifying cargo documents, claiming their shipments contain lubricants or petrochemical additives, both of which are tax-exempt. The fake paperwork passes through customs with the help of bribes, while the actual diesel or gasoline floods Mexican markets at a discount.

Companies like Houston-based Ikon Midstream, which bought and shipped the Torm Agnes cargo, occupy the gray zone between legality and complicity. The firm purchased diesel in Canada, disguised it as lubricants in customs documents, and sent it to a Monterrey-based recipient called Intanza, a company authorities now suspect is a CJNG front.

It is the blending of formal and criminal economies that makes this phenomenon so dangerous. What once required violent pipeline theft now operates as a hybrid supply chain, complete with invoices, shipping manifests, and trade intermediaries. The same global infrastructure that powers legitimate energy commerce has been repurposed for organized crime.

The American connection:

The Ensenada case illustrates how deeply intertwined U.S. and Mexican energy systems have become. Nearly all the smuggled fuel originates in the United States or Canada. It passes through American ports, refineries, and shipping brokers, some unwitting, others complicit.

Texas, long a hub for legitimate fuel exports, has also become fertile ground for illicit operations. “The cartels have infiltrated many legitimate businesses along the border and further north,” warned Texas State Senator Juan Hinojosa, who has pushed for stricter licensing of fuel depots and transporters.

The U.S. Treasury Department and the Office of Foreign Assets Control  have since begun sanctioning dozens of Mexican nationals and companies tied to CJNG’s fuel operations. Yet the challenge lies in the complex nature of the trade; each shipment can involve multiple shell companies, international middlemen, and falsified documents. Even major firms like Torm, one of the world’s largest tanker operators, have been drawn into controversy. The company says it cut ties with Ikon Midstream after the Ensenada operation became public, citing contractual deception.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Justice has already prosecuted American citizens for aiding cartel-linked fuel schemes. In May, a Utah father and son were charged with laundering money and supplying material support to CJNG by helping smuggle Mexican crude oil. Such cases highlight that America’s own regulatory and commercial systems are being leveraged to sustain the very criminal organizations Washington seeks to dismantle.

Mexico’s Shaky Governance:

For Mexico, the rise of cartel fuel empires is not just an economic issue, it’s an existential one. The Mexican Navy, once regarded as among the country’s least corrupt institutions, is now under internal investigation for its role in facilitating smuggling at ports. Senior naval and customs officials have been arrested in connection with illegal tanker operations, while President Claudia Sheinbaum’s administration has made combating fuel theft a cornerstone of its early tenure.

But even high-profile seizures barely scratch the surface. Since Sheinbaum took office in late 2024, authorities have confiscated an estimated 500,000 barrels of illegal fuel, less than a fraction of the $20 billion trade. Prosecutors investigating the racket face mortal danger. In August, Tamaulipas’ federal prosecutor was assassinated after leading raids that uncovered more than 1.8 million liters of illicit fuel.

This combination of organized crime, corruption, and governance failure is a hallmark of what political scientists call “criminal capture”, the point at which state institutions become functionally co-opted by illicit economies. With cartels operating as false energy corporations, Mexico’s sovereignty over its own fuel sector is seemingly a facade.

The Global Shadow Market:

The implications stretch beyond Mexico. The term “dark fleet” was first used to describe tankers smuggling sanctioned Russian and Iranian oil. Now, it applies equally to the vessels carrying contraband fuel across the Gulf of Mexico and Pacific coastlines.

These ships exploit the same legal and logistical loopholes that sustain global energy markets; open registries, layered ownership, and limited oversight in maritime trade. Once a vessel’s cargo is reclassified or offloaded at an unsanctioned port, tracing its origins becomes almost impossible.

For Western energy giants, this black-market competition is tangible. Shell’s decision to sell its retail operations in Mexico earlier this year was due in part to its inability to compete with cheaper cartel-supplied fuel. Bootleg diesel sells at a 5–10% discount below legitimate imports, enough to distort prices across an entire sector.

Meanwhile, the illusion of “cheap” fuel comes at extraordinary cost. Mexico’s treasury loses billions in tax revenue annually, honest importers are squeezed out, and legitimate workers are drawn into dangerous informal economies. The trade also erodes trust in North America’s supply chains, just as Washington and Mexico City struggle to deepen cross-border economic integration under the USMCA framework.

Cartel Infiltration into Trade Routes:

The evolution of cartels from narcotics traffickers to fuel traders reflects a broader transformation in organized crime. Cartels have always been adaptive enterprises, but their pivot into energy reveals strategy: fuel is legal, high-margin, and logistically complex, making it perfect for laundering money under the guise of legitimate trade.

In this new landscape, the line between criminal and commercial actor has blurred beyond recognition. A U.S. trader signing a fuel invoice in Houston may be unknowingly financing a cartel warehouse in Jalisco. A Danish shipping company fulfilling a contract may inadvertently be enabling tax evasion worth millions. And a Mexican port official turning a blind eye may be advancing the interests of a criminal enterprise larger than the state itself.

The Torm Agnes episode is not merely a tale of smuggling; it is an example showcasing globalization’s vulnerabilities. As supply chains grow more complex and opaque, the ability of states to control what passes through their borders diminishes.

What’s Next?

Mexico’s “dark fleet” is more than a law enforcement issue, it’s a test of North America’s supply chain security. If cartels can operate international fuel logistics networks using legitimate Western infrastructure, the implications reach far beyond Ensenada. It raises fundamental questions about regulation, accountability, and the complicity embedded in global commerce.

President Sheinbaum’s crackdown, combined with U.S. sanctions, suggests the beginnings of a coordinated response. But the scale of the challenge is daunting. As one former OFAC official put it, “The cartels are not just criminals anymore, they’re businessmen with global reach.”

Whether Washington and Mexico City can curb this hybrid economy will define not just the future of bilateral relations, but the credibility and stability of the global energy system itself.

Oct. 15 (UPI) — The Department of Homeland Security said it has credible intelligence that Mexican cartels have placed bounties on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection officers.

The Tuesday statement from DHS said criminal networks have instructed “U.S.-based sympathetics,” including Chicago street gangs, to “monitor, harass and assassinate” federal agents.

According to the federal agencies, the cartels are offering $2,000 for gathering intelligence, between $5,000 and $10,000 for kidnapping and assaults on standard ICE and CBP officers and up to $50,000 to assassinate high-ranking officials.

“These criminal networks are not just resisting the rule of law, they are waging an organized campaign of terror against the brave men and women who protected our borders and communities,” DHS Secretary Kristi Noem said.

ICE has been conducting an immigration crackdown in Chicago, employing aggressive tactics, such as the use of tear gas and forced entries, that have drawn criticism over the use of force and accusations of intimidation against residents. Local leaders have accused the Trump administration of overreach and violating the Constitution.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly attempted to deploy the National Guard to the city, but federal judges have blocked or delayed the move.

“ICE is recklessly throwing tear gas into our neighborhoods and busy streets, including near children at school and CPD officers,” Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Tuesday in a statement.

“The Trump administration must stop their deployment of dangerous chemical weapons into the air of peaceful American communities.”

Trump has criticized out at Pritzker for resisting troop deployments, saying he and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson “should be in jail for failing to protect Ice Officers.”

According to the DHS, gangs have established so-called spotter networks in Chicago’s Pilsen and Little Village neighborhoods. Groups including the Latin Kins have stationed members on rooftops with firearms and radios to track ICE and CBP movements to disrupt federal immigration raids being conducted under Operation Midway Blitz.

Last week, the Justice Department charged Juan Espinoza Martinez, 37, with one count of murder-for-hire targeting a senior ICE agent involved in the Chicago operation.

Federal prosecutors alleged Martinez, identified as a Latin Kings gang member, sent a Snapchat message offering $10,000 “if u take him down” and $2,000 for information on the agent’s whereabouts.

On Oct. 3, DHS announced that more than 1,000 undocumented migrants had been detained under Operation Midway Blitz, which began Sept. 8.

Oct. 2 (UPI) — President Donald Trump last month notified several congressional committees that the United States is in armed conflict with drug cartels that he has designated as terrorist organizations.

The notice to relevant congressional committees described drug cartels as “unlawful combatants” and comes after the military struck alleged drug-running vessels in the Caribbean Sea last month, including two from Venezuela, according to ABC News.

Those strikes killed 17 people aboard the targeted boats.

“The president directed the Department of War to conduct operations against them pursuant to the law of armed conflict,” the notice to congressional committees says, as reported by The Hill.

“The United States has now reached a critical point where we must use force in self-defense and defense of others against the ongoing attacks by these designated terrorist organizations,” the notice says.

Trump issued the notice following a Sept. 15 strike that killed three in a vessel operated by a “designated terrorist organization,” Fox News reported.

The military strikes are “in line with the law of armed conflict to protect our country from those trying to bring deadly poison to our shores,” Anna Kelly, White House deputy press secretary, told Fox News.

“He is delivering on his promise to take on the cartels and eliminate these national security threats from murdering more Americans,” she added.

The notice to the congressional committees abides by federal law that requires presidential administrations to report attacks or hostilities that involve the U.S. military.

It also emphasizes the strikes are done in self-defense while “eliminating the threat posed by these designated terrorist organizations.”

The Trump administration views the drug cartels as engaging in an ongoing attack against the United States that involves arms, in addition to deadly drugs that kill tens of thousands of U.S. citizens every year.

The cartels are transnational in nature and engage in ongoing “attacks throughout the Western Hemisphere,” the notice says.

The military action against the alleged drug-running vessels has drawn criticism from congressional Democrats, who accuse the Trump administration of exceeding its constitutional authority.

Other critics say Venezuela has only a minor role in the trafficking of illicit drugs that reach the United States, and there has been no proof provided that the 17 people killed have been drug traffickers.

WASHINGTON — President Trump has declared drug cartels to be unlawful combatants and says the United States is now in a “non-international armed conflict,” according to a Trump administration memo obtained by the Associated Press on Thursday, following recent U.S. strikes on boats in the Caribbean.

Congress was notified about the designation by Pentagon officials on Wednesday, according to a person familiar with the matter who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity.

The memo, startling in scope, signals a potential new moment not just in the Trump administration’s willingness to reach beyond the norms of presidential authority to wage war but in Trump’s stated “America First” agenda. It also raises stark questions about how far the White House intends to use its war powers and if Congress will exert its authority to approve — or ban — such military actions.

The move comes after the U.S. military last month carried out three deadly strikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean. At least two of those operations were carried out on vessels that originated from Venezuela.

Those strikes followed up a buildup of U.S. maritime forces in the Caribbean.

“Although friendly foreign nations have made significant efforts to combat these organizations, suffering significant losses of life, these groups are now transnational and conduct ongoing attacks throughout the Western Hemisphere as organized cartels,” according to the memo, which refers to cartel members as “unlawful combatants.” “Therefore, the President determined these cartels are non-state armed groups, designated them as terrorist organizations, and determined that their actions constitute an armed attack against the United States.”

Pentagon officials could not provide a list of the designated terrorist organizations at the center of the conflict, a matter that was a major source of frustration for some of the lawmakers who were briefed, according to the person.

Lawmakers have been pressing Trump to go to Congress and seek war powers authority for such operations.

The White House and the Pentagon did not respond to requests for comment. Multiple defense officials reached Thursday appeared to be caught off guard by the determination and would not immediately comment or explain what the president’s action could mean for the Pentagon or military operations going forward.

What the Trump administration laid out at the closed-door classified briefing was perceived by several senators as pursuing a new legal framework that raised questions particularly regarding the role of Congress in authorizing any such action, the person familiar with the matter said.

As the Republican administration takes aim at vessels in the Caribbean, senators and lawmakers of both major political parties have raised stark objections. Some had previously called on Congress to exert its authority under the War Powers Act that would prohibit the administration’s strikes unless they were authorized by Congress.

The first military strike, carried out on Sept. 2 on what the Trump administration said was a drug-carrying speedboat, killed 11 people. Trump claimed the boat was operated by the Tren de Aragua gang, which was listed by the U.S. as a foreign terrorist organization earlier this year.

The Trump administration had previously justified the military action as a necessary escalation to stem the flow of drugs into the United States.

But several senators, Democrats and some Republicans, as well as human rights groups questioned the legality of Trump’s action. They called it potential overreach of executive authority in part because the military was used for law enforcement purposes.

By claiming his campaign against drug cartels is an active armed conflict, Trump appears to be claiming extraordinary wartime powers to justify his action.

Sen. Jack Reed of Rhode Island, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committees, said the drug cartels are “despicable and must be dealt with by law enforcement.”

“The Trump Administration has offered no credible legal justification, evidence, or intelligence for these strikes,” said Reed, a former Army officer who served in the 82nd Airborne Division.

The Trump administration has yet to explain how the military assessed the boats’ cargo and determined the passengers’ alleged gang affiliation before the strikes.

Madhani and Mascaro write for the Associated Press. AP writer Konstatin Toropin contributed reporting.

MEXICO CITY — Security, sovereignty, tariffs, trade, drugs and migration — all hot-button issues for the Trump administration and its neighbors in the Western Hemisphere — will top Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s agenda this week on his third trip to Latin America since becoming the chief U.S. diplomat.

In talks with leaders in Mexico and Ecuador on Wednesday and Thursday, Rubio will make the case that broader, deeper cooperation with the U.S. on those issues is vitally important to improving health, safety and security in the Americas and the Caribbean.

Yet, President Trump has alienated many in the region — far beyond the usual array of U.S. antagonists like Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela — with persistent demands, coupled with threats of sweeping tariffs and massive sanctions for not complying with his desires.

Mexico has been a focus for Trump

Mexico, the only country apart from Canada to share a border with the U.S., has been a particular target for Trump. He has demanded, and so far won, some concessions from Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s government, which is eager to defuse the tariff threats.

Just a few hours before Rubio’s arrival Tuesday, Sheinbaum was set to lead a meeting of the country’s most important security forum, which brings together all 32 governors, the army, navy, federal prosecutor’s office and security commanders to coordinate actions across Mexico.

Sheinbaum had been talking for weeks about how Mexico was finalizing a comprehensive security agreement with the State Department that, among other things, was supposed to include plans for a “joint investigation group” to combat the flow of fentanyl and the drug’s precursors into the U.S. and weapons from north to south.

“Under no circumstance will we accept interventions, interference or any other act from abroad that is detrimental to the integrity, independence and sovereignty of the country,” she said Monday in her State of the Nation address marking her first year in office.

Last week, however, a senior State Department official downplayed suggestions that a formal agreement — at least one that includes protections for Mexican sovereignty — was in the works.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to preview Rubio’s meetings, said sovereignty protections were “understood” by both countries without having to be formalized in a document.

Sheinbaum lowered her expectations Tuesday, saying during her morning news briefing that it would not be a formal agreement but rather a kind of memorandum of understanding to share information and intelligence on drug trafficking or money laundering obtained “by them in their territory, by us in our territory unless commonly agreed upon.”

Mexico’s president touts keeping close ties with the U.S.

Of her meeting with Rubio on Wednesday, she said it was always important to maintain good relations with the United States.

“There will be moments of greater tension, of less tension, of issues that we do not agree on, but we have to try to have a good relationship, and I believe tomorrow’s meeting will show that,” Sheinbaum said. “It is a relationship of respect and at the same time collaboration.”

To appease Trump, Sheinbaum has gone after Mexican cartels and their fentanyl production more aggressively than her predecessor. The government has sent the National Guard to the northern border and delivered 55 cartel figures long wanted by U.S. authorities to the Trump administration.

The Trump-Sheinbaum relationship also has been marked by tension, including the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration announcing a new initiative with Mexico to combat cartels along the border that prompted an angry denial from Sheinbaum.

Despite American officials singing her praises, and constantly highlighting collaboration between the two countries, Trump glibly said last month: “Mexico does what we tell them to do.”

Migration and cartels are a focus of Rubio’s trip

In announcing the trip, the State Department said Rubio, who has already traveled twice to Latin America and the Caribbean and twice to Canada this year, would focus on stemming illegal migration, combating organized crime and drug cartels, and countering what the U.S. believes is malign Chinese behavior in its backyard.

He will show “unwavering commitment to protect [U.S.] borders, neutralize narco-terrorist threats to our homeland, and ensure a level playing field for American businesses,” the department said.

Rubio’s first foreign trip as secretary of state was to Panama, El Salvador, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic, during which he assailed Chinese influence over the Panama Canal and sealed deals with the others to accept immigrant deportees from the United States. Rubio later traveled to Jamaica, Guyana and Suriname.

The senior State Department official said virtually every country in Latin America is now accepting the return of their nationals being deported from the U.S. and, with the exception of Nicaragua, most have stepped up their actions against drug cartels, many of which have been designated foreign terrorist organizations by the U.S.

The official also said progress has been made in countering China in the Western Hemisphere.

Lee and Janetsky write for the Associated Press. AP writer María Verza in Mexico City contributed to this report.

The United States warships are approaching Venezuelan waters in the southern Caribbean as part of President Donald Trump’s effort to fight drug trafficking, reports said.

The Trump administration has accused Venezuela’s left-wing President Nicolas Maduro of being involved in cocaine trafficking and working with drug cartels. On August 7, the US Departments of State and Justice doubled the reward for information leading to the arrest of Maduro to $50m after accusing him of being “one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world”.

In response, Maduro has urged millions of Venezuelans to join militias, saying, “No empire will touch the sacred soil of Venezuela.”

On Monday, the Venezuelan government announced that it is sending 15,000 troops to its border with Colombia to fight drug trafficking, amid growing pressure from the Trump administration.

So why are the US warships heading to Venezuelan waters, and how is it being seen in Latin American nations, including Venezuela?

Why is the Trump administration sending navy warships to Venezuelan waters?

Multiple news reports say that the Trump administration has dispatched navy warships to the southern Caribbean, saying that these missions are intended to counter threats to US national security posed by organisations in the region that the US has designated as “narco-terrorist organizations.”

The New York Times reported last month that Trump signed a secret directive ordering the Pentagon to use military force against certain Latin American drug cartels that the US has deemed foreign “terrorist” organisations.

On Monday, the Reuters news agency reported that the US ordered additional ships to the southern Caribbean, citing two sources familiar with the deployment.

The sources told Reuters, on the condition of anonymity, that the USS Lake Erie, a guided missile cruiser and the USS Newport News, a nuclear-powered fast attack submarine, will arrive in the region by early next week.

Last week, multiple news agencies reported that three US Aegis-class guided missile destroyers were headed to Venezuelan waters.

According to two individuals briefed on the deployment – who anonymously spoke to Reuters – the USS San Antonio, USS Iwo Jima and USS Fort Lauderdale were headed towards the Venezuelan coast, carrying 4,500 US service members, including 2,200 Marines.

In both the reports, Reuters said that the unnamed sources refrained from disclosing the specific objectives of the deployments but indicated that recent military movements were intended to address threats to US national security posed by designated “narco-terrorist organizations.”

On August 14, the US Fleet Forces Command published a news release saying that sailors and Marines assigned to the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group had departed from Norfolk, Virginia and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. The news release does not explicitly state details of the mission or specify where the group is being deployed.

The release says, “More than 4,500 Sailors and Marines from the 22nd MEU comprise the force aboard the ARG’s three amphibious ships: flagship USS Iwo Jima (LHD 7), and the San Antonio-class amphibious transport dock ships USS San Antonio (LPD 17) and USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD 28).”

Reporters asked White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt about the possibility of US boots on the ground in Venezuela on August 19. In response, she said, “President [Donald] Trump has been very clear and consistent. He’s prepared to use every element of American power to stop drugs from flooding into our country and to bring those responsible to justice.”

Leavitt reiterated that the US does not recognise Maduro’s administration as the legitimate government of Venezuela. Maduro won last year’s disputed election. The US and Venezuela have not had a formal diplomatic relationship since 2019.

How is Trump cracking down on drug trafficking?

On his inauguration day on January 21, Trump signed an executive order designating international drug cartels as foreign “terrorist” organisations.

“In certain portions of Mexico, they function as quasi-governmental entities,” the order says. Mexico opposed the order because it created the threat of US military action against the country.

In response, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum said that her government will cooperate with the US to fight drug trafficking, but opposed US intervention on Mexico’s territory. “What we insist on is the defence of our sovereignty and our independence,” she said back in January.

Trump also accused Canada and Mexico of failing to prevent fentanyl, a highly addictive synthetic opioid, from entering the US –  although he has not furnished proof for his claims.

After Trump threatened tariffs on Mexican imports, Sheinbaum deployed 10,000 National Guard troops to the US-Mexico border to help regulate immigration.

On February 20, the US State Department designated eight international cartels as foreign terrorist organisations, including Mexico-based Cartel del Golfo, Sinaloa Cartel, Cartel de Jalisco Nueva Generacion, Carteles Unidos, La Nueva Familia Michoacana and Cartel del Noreste, California-based Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), and Venezuela-based Tren de Aragua.

Later in February, Mexico handed over 29 drug cartel leaders to the US.

What has the US accused Maduro of?

US officials accused both Maduro and Venezuelan Minister of Popular Power for Interior Diosdado Cabello of collaborating with the Cartel de los Soles (“Cartel of the Suns”), a drug trafficking organisation that Washington has designated as a “terrorist” group. Cabello, like Maduro, is part of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).

Maduro has rejected the Trump administration’s accusations earlier. The US government has not provided any evidence linking Maduro to drug cartels.

The US announced earlier this month that it had doubled the reward for Maduro’s capture on drug charges to $50m. In a video on August 7, US Attorney General Pam Bondi also accused Maduro of collaborating with the Venezuelan crime syndicate Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico. “He is one of the largest narco-traffickers in the world,” Bondi said about Maduro.

Today, @TheJusticeDept and @StateDept are announcing a $50 MILLION REWARD for information leading to the arrest of Nicolás Maduro. pic.twitter.com/D8LNqjS9yk

— Attorney General Pamela Bondi (@AGPamBondi) August 7, 2025

Earlier this year, the US also raised the reward for the arrest or prosecution of Cabello from $10m to $25m.

During Trump’s first term in 2020, Maduro and his close allies were indicted in Manhattan federal court on federal charges of “narco-terrorism” and conspiracy to import cocaine. Back then, Washington offered a $15mm reward for his arrest. The administration of US President Joe Biden increased this bounty to $25m.

How has the Venezuelan government responded?

On Monday, Cabello announced that Caracas will send 15,000 troops to strengthen security in the border states of Zulia and Tachira, which border Colombia.

“Here, we do fight drug trafficking; here, we do fight drug cartels on all fronts,” the minister said, while also announcing the seizure of 53 tonnes of drugs so far this year.

Cabello stated that the enhanced security measures along the border with Colombia, aimed at “combating criminal groups,” will also include the deployment of aircraft, drones and riverine security, according to local media outlet Noticias Venevision. Cabello urged Colombian authorities to take similar steps to “ensure peace along the entire axis.”

Referring to the deployment of US warships on Venezuelan waters, Maduro said, “From the north, the empire has gone mad and, like a rotten rehash, has renewed its threats to the peace and stability of Venezuela,” Caracas-based news network, Globovision reported.

“We are not fakes nor drug traffickers, and we will defend the dignity of beloved Venezuela,” Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez told a crowd of military recruits over the weekend.

How have Venezuelan opposition leaders responded?

Opposition figure Marina Corina Machado called Maduro the “head of the Cartel of the Sun,” in an X post on Monday. Machado was disqualified weeks before last year’s election.

But opposition leader Henrique Capriles warned against an act of force against Venezuela. “We firmly express our rejection of any act of force against Venezuela, regardless of its origin. The sovereignty of our country is sacred and must be unconditionally respected. The United Nations Charter and International Law clearly establish that no State can attack another, as it would result in the loss of human lives,” he posted on X.

Capriles, who lost to Maduro in the 2013 presidential election, added that regional peace must be defended.

“The government, currently in power, has the duty to open the doors and create the mechanisms necessary to prevent our crisis from worsening further.”

Juan Guaido, the West-backed interim president between 2019 and 2022, supported the actions taken by the United States against Venezuelan cartels. “The Cartel of the Suns and the Tren de Aragua have already been designated as terrorist organizations. Their leader is not hidden in the shadows: his name is Nicolas Maduro, a dictator responsible for this criminal network that drains Venezuela and threatens the entire region,” he posted a statement on X on Monday.

What have other Latin American leaders said?

Mexico’s Sheinbaum said earlier this month that her government does not have any evidence linking Maduro to the Sinaloa Cartel, which is based in her country and is named after the Mexican state of Sinaloa.

On the other hand, the office of the president of Paraguay, Santiago Pena Palacios, posted a statement on X on Friday declaring the “Cartel of the Suns” a foreign terrorist organisation.

WASHINGTON — A close ally of fugitive Jalisco New Generation boss known as “El Mencho” for years orchestrated a prolific drug trafficking operation, using a semi-submersible and other methods to avoid detection, and provided weapons to one of Mexico’s most powerful cartels, prosecutors say.

On Friday, José González Valencia was sentenced in Washington’s federal court to 30 years in a U.S. prison following his 2017 arrest at a beach resort in Brazil while vacationing with his family under a fake name.

González Valencia, 49, known as “Chepa,” along with his two brothers, led a group called “Los Cuinis” that financed the drug trafficking operations of Jalisco New Generation, or CJNG — the violent cartel recently designated a foreign terrorist organization by the Trump administration. His brother-in-law is CJNG leader Nemesio Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, whom for years has been sought by the U.S. government.

Meanwhile, El Mencho’s son-in-law, Cristian Fernando Gutiérrez Ochoa, appeared in the same courtroom earlier Friday to plead guilty in a separate case to a money laundering conspiracy charge. Gutiérrez Ochoa was arrested toward the end of the Biden administration last year in California, where authorities have said he was living under a bogus name after faking his own death and fleeing Mexico.

Together, the prosecutions reflect the U.S. government’s efforts to weaken the brutal CJNG cartel that’s responsible for importing staggering amounts of cocaine, methamphetamine and fentanyl into the U.S. — and track down its elusive leader. The Trump administration has sought to turn up the pressure on CJNG and other cartels with the foreign terrorist organization designation, which gives authorities new tools to prosecute those associated with cartels.

“You can’t totally prosecute your way out of the cartel problem, but you can make an actual impact by letting people know that we’re going to be enforcing this and showing that Mexico is being cooperative with us and then ultimately trying to get high-level targets to sort of set the organization back,” Matthew Galeotti, who lead the Justice Department’s criminal division, said in an interview with the Associated Press.

Trump’s Justice Department has declared dismantling CJNG and other cartels a top priority, and Galetotti said the U.S. in recent months has seen increased cooperation from Mexican officials. In February, Mexico sent 29 cartel figures — including drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the killing of a U.S. DEA agent in 1985 — to the U.S. for prosecution.

The Trump administration has already charged a handful of defendants with terrorism offenses since designating CJNG and seven other Latin American crime organizations as foreign terrorist organizations in February. Galeotti said several additional indictments related to CJNG and other cartels remain under seal.

“We are taking a division-wide approach to this,” Galeotti said. “We’ve got money laundering prosecutors who are not just focused on the cartels themselves … but also on financial facilitators. So when we’re taking this broad approach … that’s why I think we’ve had some of the really significant cases that we’ve had, and we’ve seen a very significant pipeline.”

González Valencia pleaded guilty to international cocaine trafficking in 2022. Authorities say he went into hiding in Bolivia in 2015 after leading Los Cuinis alongside his brothers for more than a decade. He was arrested in 2017 under the first Trump administration after traveling to Brazil, and was later extradited to the U.S.

Los Cuinis used “air, land, sea, and under-the-sea methods” to smuggle drugs bound for the U.S., prosecutors say. In one instance, authorities say González Valencia invested in a shipment of 4,000 kilograms of cocaine that was packed in a semi-submersible vessel to travel from Colombia to Guatemala. Other methods employed by Los Cuinis include hiding drugs in frozen shark carcasses, prosecutors say. He’s also accused of directing the killing of a rival.

He appeared in court wearing an orange jumpsuit and listened to the hearing through an interpreter over headphones. U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell sealed part of the hearing, keeping the press and public out of the courtroom while lawyers argued over the sentence. It was not clear why the judge determined it had to be sealed. González Valencia’s lawyer declined to comment after the hearing.

In the other case, Gutiérrez Ochoa was wanted in Mexico on allegations that he kidnapped two Mexican Navy members in 2021 in the hopes of securing the release of El Mencho’s wife after she had been arrested by Mexican authorities, prosecutors have said. Authorities have said he faked his own death and fled to the U.S. to avoid Mexican authorities, and El Mencho told associates that he killed Gutiérrez Ochoa for lying.

El Mencho’s son, Rubén Oseguera — known as “El Menchito” — was sentenced in March to life in prison after his conviction in Washington’s federal court of conspiring to distribute cocaine and methamphetamine for U.S. importation and using a firearm in a drug conspiracy.

Richer writes for the Associated Press.