We have been following the maritime siege that US forces from the US Southern Command are enacting off the coast of Venezuela, with multiple alleged drug boats targeted and destroyed.
The US has mobilized the biggest force deployed to South America in a quarter of a century, with ten navy ships and a nuclear-powered submarine, plus dozens of fighter jets, helicopters, ospreys and drones.
Since the start of the month of September, the US forces gathered in Puerto Rico has been training amphibious landing, upping the pressure on Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.
Maduro is accused by the US DOJ of being the head of a drug cartel, having been charged with evading sanctions, with a $50 million bounty on his head.
#Marines conduct amphibious training in the Caribbean where they are deployed in support of the #SOUTHCOM mission, @DeptofWar-directed operations, and @POTUS‘ priorities.
️: @22nd_MEU pic.twitter.com/PEKUgOOAXQ
— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) September 24, 2025
Primeira Hora/EFE reported (translated from the Spanish):
“The U.S. Southern Command released a video on Wednesday of the training of a Navy ‘amphibious group’ in the Caribbean, as part of the country’s military deployment near Venezuela.
The footage, recorded in Puerto Rico, shows soldiers practicing shooting with large-caliber rifles and conducting exercises in rural areas.”
“The so-called amphibious group is made up of assault ships, marines and support aircraft, with the capacity to execute landing operations, troop transport and force projection in coastal scenarios.”
See the @USMC & @USNavy air power in action as service members conduct amphibious training in the Caribbean in support of the #SOUTHCOM mission, @DeptofWar-directed operations, and @POTUS‘ priorities. pic.twitter.com/GxTeiC5I4c
— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) September 25, 2025
“The material, published on the Southern Command’s X account, also includes the deployment of ships and aircraft that the United States maintains in the Caribbean under the direction of its War Department.”
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