CURRENT U.S. MILITARY DEPLOYMENT IN THE CARIBBEAN
The scale of the current U.S. military deployment in the Caribbean has shocked our entire region. This is an offensive military presence not seen in the Caribbean for decades, since the U.S. invasion of Grenada in 1983.
There are currently nearly 16,000 soldiers, sailors, and marines deployed in the Caribbean, 8 warships, a fast-attack nuclear-powered submarine, F-35 fighter jets, B-52 and B-1 bombers, as well as reconnaissance and military transport aircraft, among other assets and forces.
The arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest and most advanced U.S. aircraft carrier, redeployed from the Mediterranean, reflects the clear intention to demonstrate U.S. domination in the Caribbean.
Since September 2nd, U.S. military attacks against small vessels in the southern Caribbean Sea have begun, causing the death, to date, of almost 90 people, under the pretext of a campaign against drug trafficking. These are extrajudicial executions, a serious violation of human rights. These are people whom the United States classifies as suspects of the crime of drug trafficking, but it kills them, denying their right to due process.
As part of the escalation, the United States unilaterally decreed the closure of Venezuelan airspace. On December 10th, U.S. military forces assaulted an oil tanker while it was sailing near the coast of Venezuela. This act of piracy and maritime terrorism constitutes another serious violation of International Law.
With actions like this, the United States seeks to impede Venezuela's legitimate right to freely use and commercialize its natural resources with other nations, including oil supplies to Cuba. Already during Donald Trump's first term, the United States pursued ships transporting fuel to our country. This situation is now worsening with the use of military force.
HISTORICAL POSITION OF THE CARIBBEAN IN SUPPORT OF PEACE
What is happening seriously threatens peace in the Caribbean. The defense of peace and stability in the Caribbean, based on respect for International Law, the peaceful settlement of disputes, and the rejection of foreign military bases, has been a fundamental pillar of the collective Caribbean identity for many years.
These principles have guided the foreign policy of the region and its relations with the rest of the world. Caribbean states have been united for many years by the conviction that regional peace and stability is a shared good that no external power has the right to compromise.
Since its emergence in 1973, CARICOM has defended the vision of the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace and free from foreign military domination. This tradition of peace in the Caribbean is not an ideological abstraction, but an indispensable requirement for economic survival. For our islands, peace is not a luxury but an essential economic pillar.
Unlike large continental economies, our Caribbean economies are markedly open and depend on a stable environment to ensure tourism, maritime trade, transport, fishing, logistics, and financial services. The climate of instability affects tourist flows, paralyzes investments, increases transport insurance costs, and disrupts vital supply chains, among other negative consequences.
The militarization of the Caribbean is not only incompatible with regional peace and stability but also gravely endangers the livelihoods of Caribbean countries.
PROCLAMATION OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN AS A ZONE OF PEACE
These elements explain the important and active role we Caribbean countries had in the formal adoption of the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace, at the historic II CELAC Summit, held in Havana in 2014. By virtue of this Proclamation, our region committed to always resolving disputes peacefully and without interference from extra-regional powers. The collective commitment to sovereignty, and the rejection of the use or threat of force, was reaffirmed.
The United Nations General Assembly has recognized this Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace as an example and reference for other regions of the world.
NEW U.S. NATIONAL SECURITY STRATEGY
To fully understand the reasons for the current U.S. military deployment in the Caribbean, and the threat of imminent military actions against Venezuela, it is essential to consider the new U.S. national security strategy.
In this new Strategy, contained in a 33-page document published on December 5th, the priority objective is identified, and I quote: "to restore U.S. preeminence in the Western Hemisphere." That is, the new National Security Strategy establishes, with absolute clarity, that the current strategic priority of the United States is to impose its influence and control in Latin America and the Caribbean.
This marks a reorientation in that country's national security vision. This is not a mere tactical adjustment, but a paradigm shift. We are at an inflection point in U.S. strategic doctrine.
By explicitly declaring dominion over the Western Hemisphere as a condition for U.S. national security and prosperity; the Caribbean, and with it countries like Venezuela and Cuba, are no longer periphery, but become the center of U.S. national security. The Caribbean, historically a transit zone, becomes a space of U.S. strategic primacy, where the hemispheric and global order is defined.
The new Strategy openly endorses the infamous Monroe Doctrine. On this point, the document states, and I quote: "After years of neglect, the United States will reaffirm and apply the Monroe Doctrine to restore U.S. preeminence in the Western Hemisphere and protect our national territory and our access to key geographies throughout the region."
HISTORY OF THE MONROE DOCTRINE
The Monroe Doctrine was originally proclaimed by the United States in 1823. By virtue of it, Latin America and the Caribbean were identified as an area of exclusive U.S. influence, and therefore, off-limits to other powers.
This doctrine denies the right of countries in the region to self-determination and establishes that the sovereignty of these nations is only valid as long as it does not interfere with U.S. interests. This implies that the United States arrogates to itself the right to intervene in Latin American and Caribbean countries when it deems necessary, without the consent of their governments.
By reviving the Monroe Doctrine, the United States evokes a long history of U.S. military interventions and coup conspiracies in our region. Under the Monroe Doctrine, U.S. troops intervened during the 19th and 20th centuries in thirty of the thirty-three countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (that is, 90% of the countries), including Cuba.
The new National Security Strategy, by identifying hegemony over Latin America and the Caribbean as a new strategic priority, foresees an adjustment of the global U.S. military presence to prioritize deployment in our hemisphere.
RESOURCES OF LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
The new National Security Strategy establishes that the region's abundant natural resources are part of the U.S. national interest. One of those resources is oil. Latin America and the Caribbean hold 20% of the world's oil reserves.
The United States now prioritizes regime change in Venezuela to secure control of the world's largest oil reserves. Venezuela has an enormous reserve of 303 billion barrels of crude, being the country with the largest proven crude oil reserves in the world. Venezuela holds one-fifth of the world's oil reserves.
Venezuelan oil is key to restoring U.S. energy dominance, and access to cheap and abundant energy, objectives that are explicitly defined in the new National Security Strategy. The United States produces oil, but it also needs to import, especially the type of oil that Venezuela produces. The United States mostly produces light crude, used to make gasoline. Heavy crude, like Venezuela's, is crucial for certain products manufactured in the refining process, such as diesel and asphalt.
But it is not only oil that interests the United States in our region. It also seeks to control logistical infrastructure and other key strategic resources. The region holds 60% of the world's lithium, 37% of its copper, 35% of its silver, one-third of the world's freshwater reserves, 31% of the fishing surface area, more than 30% of the planet's primary forests, and 17% of rare earths, to cite just a few examples.
Additionally, the region has geostrategic points of vital importance to the United States, such as the Panama Canal, the Caribbean Sea, and part of Antarctica, among others.
LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN RELATIONS WITH CHINA
The following is also expressed in the new Strategy, and I quote: "We will deny non-hemispheric competitors the ability to own or control strategically vital assets in our hemisphere." That is, it is announced that our region is a space of exclusive U.S. influence.
This formulation establishes a clear parameter: no country in the hemisphere can align itself with extra-hemispheric actors without facing consequences. This is clearly a U.S. geopolitical positioning against China.
In recent years, China has advanced rapidly and sustainably in the region, with investments and economic, commercial, and financial agreements. In 2024, commercial transactions between our region and China reached 520 billion USD and it is estimated they could reach 700 billion by 2035. Already, 21 countries in the region have formally joined the Belt and Road Initiative and others have partial agreements with that mechanism.
The U.S. government aims to displace China and turn Latin America and the Caribbean into its "backyard," betting on militarization and direct interference.
CONCLUSIONS
It is clear that the current massive U.S. naval, air, and intelligence presence in the Caribbean cannot be interpreted as a simple, temporary military operation. This military deployment goes far beyond a campaign of temporary pressure against the governments of Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, Colombia, and others.
The dangerous scenario that has taken shape in the Caribbean is a reflection of the practical application of the Monroe Doctrine, which reappears as a central element of U.S. foreign policy and national security. The current military deployment sends a message to the entire region: the United States will use the full power of its military force to ensure its will prevails on the continent.
Thus, a military attack on Venezuela would in reality be an attack on the sovereignty of all of Latin America and the Caribbean. Such an action would have incalculable consequences for the peace, security, and stability of our entire region.
In the current scenario, not only is the future of Venezuela being decided, but also the very identity of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace. The destiny of our countries is at stake.
That is why the rejection and condemnation by the international community of the militarization of the Caribbean and the imminent military actions against Venezuela is fundamental. The international community must mobilize to stop a warlike action against Venezuela and defend the status of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace.