The White House calls its decision to send naval forces and 4,000 troops off the coast of Venezuela a drug-interdiction effort. The move has also prompted speculation that President Donald Trump may be preparing something more aggressive against the country’s leader, Nicolas Maduro.
The deployment of the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group and 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit gives the U.S. the capability to attack targets on land — a much different specialty than that possessed by the nimble Coast Guard cutters and high-speed boats that normally intercept South American cocaine.
Two of the ships are headed for the southern Caribbean, just north of Venezuela, with the third in the Pacific.
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