Joint Chiefs Chair Visits Caribbean Amid Venezuela Turmoil

The nation's top military officer visited American troops Monday in Puerto Rico and on a Navy warship in the region, where the U.S. has amassed an unusually large fleet of warships and has been attacking alleged drug-smuggling boats.

Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and President Donald Trump's primary military adviser, was to be joined by David L. Isom, Caine's senior enlisted adviser. Caine's office said in a statement that the men will "engage with service members and thank them for their outstanding support to regional missions."

This will be Caine's second visit to the region since the U.S. military started building up its presence, which now includes the nation's most advanced aircraft carrier. Caine and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth visited Puerto Rico in September after ships carrying hundreds of U.S. Marines arrived for what officials said was a training exercise.

Hegseth said then that the deployed Marines were "on the front lines of defending the American homeland."

Caine's visit this week came as Trump evaluated whether to take military action against Venezuela, which he has not ruled out as part of his administration's escalating campaign to fight drug trafficking into the U.S. The buildup of American warships and the strikes, which have killed more than 80 people on 21 alleged drug boats, are seen by many as a pressure tactic on Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro to resign.

The Trump administration also is ramping up pressure by designating the Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, as a foreign terrorist organization.

Until this year, the label of foreign terrorist organization had been reserved for groups like the Islamic State or al-Qaida that use violence for political ends. The Trump administration applied it in February to eight Latin American criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking, migrant smuggling and other activities.

Hegseth said last week that the designation of Cartel de los Soles will provide a "whole bunch of new options to the United States" for dealing with Maduro.

"So, nothing is off the table, but nothing's automatically on the table," he said.