U.S. Forms South America Coalition as Navy Expands Anti-Cartel Push

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the United States has assembled a new coalition with Ecuador, Paraguay, Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago and, most recently, Argentina to step up joint operations against Latin American drug cartels. Speaking at a Cabinet meeting with President Donald Trump, Rubio said the group marks the first time in the modern era that Washington is “truly on offense” against organizations he accused of flooding American cities with lethal narcotics. The announcement follows an expanded U.S. naval deployment in the southern Caribbean aimed at disrupting maritime trafficking routes. According to officials familiar with the operation, the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie and the nuclear-powered attack submarine USS Newport News will join three previously deployed warships, surveillance aircraft and other assets as early as next week. About 4,000 sailors and Marines are expected to participate. U.S. commanders say the buildup targets networks such as Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles, which Washington designated a terrorist organization last month and for which it has offered a $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Rubio added that the United States is recording record drug seizures and that the new South American partners “are all joining us, trying to support us in this.”