The United States has begun deploying air and naval assets to the southern Caribbean Sea to confront Latin American drug cartels, two officials briefed on the operation told Reuters. The Pentagon move follows a White House directive instructing the military to counter narco-terrorist groups that Washington says threaten U.S. national security. Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed the deployment at a press briefing, naming Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles among the primary targets. Rubio said the cartels “operate with impunity in international waters, exporting poison to the United States,” and described the mission as a response to an escalating regional threat. President Donald Trump this year designated several cartels—including Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua—as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and doubled the bounty for Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro to $50 million. Attorney General Pam Bondi said the Drug Enforcement Administration has seized roughly 30 tons of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates. The southern Caribbean deployment adds to at least two U.S. warships already assigned to border-security and counter-drug duties and is accompanied by expanded airborne surveillance of trafficking routes. Officials did not disclose the number or type of forces involved, but said the operation is intended to disrupt cartel logistics and limit the flow of cocaine and fentanyl toward the U.S. mainland.