Trump says US ready to continue military operations in Caribbean

The United States is ready to continue military operations in the Caribbean to fight drug cartels, President Donald Trump said in a letter to Speaker of the House of Representatives of the US Congress Mike Johnson and interim Chairman of the Senate Chuck Grassley.

"I write to apprise you of military action taken on September 2, 2025 in the Caribbean Sea, and the potential for future such actions. It is not possible at this time to know the full scope and duration of military operations that will be necessary. United States forces remain postured to carry out further military operations," the letter dated September 4 says.

On September 2, the US president said the American army had killed 11 members of a Venezuelan drug cartel during an operation in international waters. According to Trump, Venezuela is taking insufficient measures to combat drug trafficking. Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said the republic is facing the most serious threat of invasion from the United States in the last 100 years.

According to Reuters, on August 19, three destroyers of the US Navy, USS Gravely, USS Jason Dunham and USS Sampson, were sent to the southern Caribbean to the coast of Venezuela to conduct operations against drug cartels. Nuclear submarine USS Newport News, the missile cruiser USS Lake Erie, amphibious ships and 4,500 military personnel were transferred there.

The gang members in Ecuador taking over a TV station while launching other attacks is a case of "violent lobbying," a term coined by Benjamin Lessing

🔶️ It's an extreme example of gangsters in LatAm using this insurgent-like tactic but it's not the first.

⬛️ Here are other cases:

🔶️ Colombian capo Pablo Escobar unleashed massive violence against the government and civilians to get his way and exert pressure. His most infamous act was using a hitman to down Avianca Flight 203 in 1989. It killed all 107 occupants. As this included Americans, US courts acted.

🔶️ In 2006, Brazil's PCC gang - or First Commando of the Capital - rose up in prisons in São Paolo and carried out almost 300 attacks, burning banks,busses, and police stations and killing dozens of officers. The attack was likely in response to the prison transfer of its leaders.

🔶️ In 2015 in Jalisco, Mexico, gunmen from the Jalisco New Generation Cartel burned cars and trucks in what are called narco bloqueos and attacked police, soldiers. It was in response to an attempt to arrest boss El Mencho. They shot down an army helicopter, probably with a 50 cal.

🔶️ In 2019, gunmen for the Sinaloa Cartel rose up in Culiacán, Mexico, following the arrest of Ovidio, son of El Chapo. They took hostages, fought with soldiers and blockaded streets. The Mexican government finally let Ovidio go - although the Mexican army re-arrested him in 2023.

🔶️ It is "violent lobbying" because the gangsters are using bloodshed and terror to exert pressure. They want the government to back off or release a suspect or stop raiding their dope.

🔶️ It makes the government pay a cost to go after them - and governments will often back down.