The United States is expanding its naval presence in the southern Caribbean, dispatching the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie and the nuclear attack submarine USS Newport News toward waters off Venezuela, according to officials cited by Reuters. The vessels will augment the USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, which sailed from Norfolk last week with three amphibious ships and roughly 4,500 Marines and sailors. Washington says the buildup is part of President Donald Trump’s campaign to disrupt Latin American drug cartels, an effort that earlier this month doubled the U.S. reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro to $50 million. Caracas has condemned the deployment as a threat to regional security. In a note delivered to the United Nations on Tuesday, Venezuela called for the “immediate withdrawal” of the U.S. flotilla. Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López announced that Venezuelan warships are now patrolling the Gulf of Venezuela and adjoining territorial waters, and that 15,000 troops have been moved to border states Táchira and Zulia under a newly declared “Peace Zone.” He also reported the seizure of 2.8 tonnes of cocaine in Amazonas state, arguing that the operation shows Venezuela is already combating narcotics trafficking without foreign intervention. The dueling deployments mark the sharpest military standoff between Washington and Caracas since diplomatic ties were severed in 2019. While U.S. officials insist the operation targets transnational cartels such as the Cartel de los Soles, Venezuelan authorities view the arrival of an American missile cruiser and a nuclear submarine as preparation for coercive action against the Maduro government. Regional governments are watching closely as both sides test the limits of gunboat diplomacy in the Caribbean.