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Brave, New World • Brave, New World • Brave, New Wo Trump Takes On Cartels
in America’s Backyard After decades of neglect, U.S. BOLDLY ASSERTS POWER in Caribbean and South America.
I BY DAVID A. PATTEN
t was a stunning display of U.S. military hardware. B-52 and B-1 bombers, F-35B
fighters, three Arleigh Burke- class guided-missile destroyers, and a guided missile destroyer
patrolled just offshore. The USS Iwo Jima Amphibious
Ready Group with its 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) and a nu- clear-powered attack submarine were cruising nearby as well. But this U.S. military buildup was
different. Because unlike the usual conflicts in the Persian Gulf or North Africa, this one involved a military buildup only a few nautical miles from where luxury cruise ships plied their routes through the Lesser Antilles to the Leeward Islands, pampering their passengers. This operation involved
a “war” in America’s own backyard. The sharp military es-
calation seen in the south- ern Caribbean and later the Eastern Pacific was all part of the Trump admin- istration’s undeclared war on Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro.
By November, U.S. forces had sent
at least seven cartel go-fast boats and one makeshift submarine to the briny deep, accounting for over 30 deaths of reputed drug runners. And just to clarify who was really
in his crosshairs, President Donald Trump raised the bounty for informa- tion leading to Maduro’s arrest to $50 million — double what it had been un- der the Biden administration. Complicating matters further for
Maduro: Charges by the Venezuelan opposition, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado, as well as many in the international com- munity, that Maduro effectively stole the 2024 presidential election from Edmundo González Urrutia. Not since U.S. forces invaded Manu-
el Noriega’s Panama in December 1989 had the United States served up such a bold assertion of power in Central or South America. It soon became evident,
however, that Trump in- tended to send a broader message not only to the re- gion but around the globe. When leftist Colombian
MADURO
President Gustavo Petro pro- tested the attacks on the car- tels, Trump branded him an
“illegal drug leader” and threatened to raise tariffs on Colombian imports. Petro, in return, ordered his U.S. ambassador to pack his bags and return home. When it came to the Trump administration’s relations with Venezuela and Colombia under the current leadership, diplomacy had no purpose.
| PARADIGM SHIFT | According to Fred Fleitz, former
National Security Council chief of staff, Trump is “very angry” at the influx of drugs and illegals into the United States from the Venezuelan cartels Tren de Aragua and Cartel de los Soles, aka the Cartel of the Suns. The latter is led by corrupt mem-
bers of Venezuela’s military. According to the Centers for Dis-
ease Control and Prevention, the tsu- nami of illegal drugs accounts for close to 100,000 U.S. overdose deaths per year. The National Institutes of Health reports law enforcement seized over 115 million pills containing fentanyl in 2023 alone. “This is not something that he is
going to stand for,” Fleitz told News- max TV. “He’s adjusted his approach to stop this conflict, which he thinks
DECEMBER 2025 | NEWSMAX 75
MISSION/DONALD TRUMP/TRUTH SOCIAL / MADURO/JUAN BARRETO/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
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