Pentagon slams Trump’s anti-drug mission in the Caribbean – REPORT
U.S. president ignores opposition, sends fleet amid COVID-19
The U.S. Department of Defense expressed its disapproval on President Donald Trump’s plan to carry out a counter-drug measure in the Caribbean region.
Following a U.S. drug indictment against Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro last week, Trump announced in a press conference that he is dispatching U.S. Navy warships to the Caribbean Sea in a bid to elevate pressure on Venezuela.
“The Venezuelan people continue to suffer tremendously due to Maduro and his criminal control over the country, and drug traffickers are seizing on this lawlessness,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper said after the president’s announcement.
Yet officials from Pentagon cited reasons of lack of resources and the timing in light of the world’s fight against COVID-19. For one, the coronavirus pandemic has ravaged a U.S. aircraft carrier in Asia and sidelined thousands of troops. Moreover, Trump’s announcement came when the White House released projections showing that as many as 240,000 Americans could die from the COVID-19.
Trump heeded no advice. “Department of Defense was against it. Didn’t matter to POTUS (President of the United States),” an anonymous former senior administration official said in an exclusive interview with Foreign Policy. He further said that that it was “all politics.”
While Trump’s announcement surprised a few Pentagon officials, another former defense official said there has already been a long growing conversation about sending Navy assets to support U.S. Southern Command.
U.S. Navy destroyers and littoral combat ships are now headed to the Caribbean region as per the US commander in chief’s orders. Coast Guard cutters, helicopters, reconnaissance, and patrol planes are also deployed.
The deployment is one of the largest U.S. military operations in the region since the 1989 invasion of Panama, when Gen. Manuel Noriega was ousted due to his involvement with drugs. The actual goal is to double the U.S. anti-narcotics capacity in the Western Hemisphere.