Jesús Daniel Romero, former Deputy Director of Naval Intelligence of the U.S. Southern Command, for FinGurú
Summary
The U.S. military deployment in 2025 in the Caribbean represents the most significant projection of force in the region since Operation Just Cause. Strategic bombers, naval strike groups, and the establishment of the Joint Task Force Against Drug Trafficking (CJTF-Caribbean) have redefined the concept of hemispheric deterrence.
By integrating Title 10 defense authorities with the Maritime Drug Law Enforcement Act (MDLEA), Washington shifted from reactive interdiction to a strategic denial of revenue and freedom of movement.
The campaign developed sequentially: following the designation of the Cartel of the Suns as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist Organization (SDGT) by the Treasury Department on July 25, 2025, a full maritime and aerial deployment began in August, and by October, U.S. forces were executing precision strikes against narco-terrorist targets.
These operations denied nearly half a billion dollars in cocaine revenue and exposed the convergence between the Cartel of the Suns, the Tren de Aragua, the Colombian ELN, and facilitators linked to Hezbollah.
Introduction
On July 25, 2025, the U.S. Treasury designated Venezuela's Cartel of the Suns as a specially designated global terrorist organization (SDGT) under Executive Order 13224.
Days later, the Department of Defense and Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) began planning for a large-scale anti-drug deployment.
By August 2025, eight warships, strategic bombers, submarines, and an Amphibious Group of the Marine Corps were under a unified structure called CJTF-Caribbean.
The deployment was much more than an interdiction operation; it was a direct response to the record increase in coca crops following the cancellation in 2023 of U.S. satellite monitoring, a decision that left vast producing areas without verification.
When Law Enforcement Was No Longer Enough
For decades, U.S. maritime anti-drug efforts relied on Coast Guard authority (Title 14 of the U.S. Code) and the MDLEA (1986). These frameworks generated thousands of prosecutions, but with little strategic effect.
By 2024, Colombia maintained nearly 250,000 hectares of coca crops, according to estimates from the UNODC World Drug Report (2024), consolidating the country as the world's leading producer and reflecting a sustained increase since the suspension of satellite monitoring and aerial eradication.
By 2024, coca cultivation exceeded 1,700 metric tons (UNODC, 2024), and more than 1,800 traffickers were arrested (U.S. Congress, 2019), while the availability of cocaine in the United States continued to rise (DEA, 2024).
Faced with that limitation, the Department of Defense invoked Title 10 authorities to integrate ISR and rapid response military capabilities with law enforcement, shifting from arresting crews to denying operational freedom to transnational criminal networks.
The 2025 Deployment
Between August 10 and 30, 2025, Southern Command executed its largest deployment in the Caribbean since 1989:
● Eight Navy ships — including destroyers, a cruiser, and an amphibious assault ship — were operationally positioned.
● B-52 and B-1 Lancer bombers conducted long-range patrols alongside F-35B fighters deployed from Puerto Rico.
● MQ-9 Reaper unmanned aerial systems, configured in Armed Combat Air Patrol (PAC), maintained constant 24/7 presence, combining long-range ISR sensors with strike capability through AGM-114 Hellfire missiles and GBU-12 Paveway II bombs.
Their continuous patrolling ensured permanent air coverage, target designation, and immediate response capability against vessels or threats detected in the Caribbean maritime corridor.
● On October 10, SOUTHCOM formally announced the creation of CJTF-Caribbean to coordinate elements of the Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and SOCOM (SOUTHCOM, 2025).
These actions reflected a doctrinal shift: drug trafficking was treated as a defense, deterrence, and permanent air control mission.
Operational Indicators: The ELN Narco-Boat
By late October 2025, U.S. surveillance detected and neutralized a high-speed narco-boat that had reportedly set sail from La Guajira, Colombia, heading toward the eastern arc of the Caribbean.
Intelligence attributed the vessel to the National Liberation Army (ELN), although the group publicly denied its involvement (Reuters, 2025).
The boat, powered by three outboard motors, was carrying between 1,200 and 1,500 kilograms of cocaine.
Its destruction prevented the delivery and denied millions of dollars to the criminal network, demonstrating how tactical interdictions have transformed into strategic financial denials within the framework of the regional campaign against narco-terrorism.
The Case of the Semi-Submersible Survivor
During the same operational period, U.S. forces destroyed a semi-submersible dedicated to transporting cocaine in the Caribbean.
One of the survivors, Andrés Fernando Tufiño Chila (also known as “Fresco Solo”), had previously been convicted in the Federal District Court for the Southern District of California (Case No. 3:20-CR-02838-AJB) for conspiracy to distribute cocaine aboard a vessel, under 46 U.S.C. §§ 70503 and 70506(b).
According to records from the Department of Justice, he pled guilty and served a five-year federal sentence before being deported.
His reappearance aboard a new semi-submersible in 2025 illustrates the recidivism and resilience of maritime trafficking networks: low-level operatives returning to crime months after their release, revealing the limits of deterrence based solely on judicial prosecutions (NTN24, 2025; U.S. District Court, 2020).
Strategic Purpose
By the end of 2025, the integrated U.S. campaign pursued three clear objectives:
1. Financial denial — cut the cash flow sustaining the Cartel of the Suns, the Tren de Aragua, and the ELN.
2. Deterrence — send the message that trafficking protected by states would be met with a direct response from the U.S.
3. Operational control — maintain persistent surveillance and strike capacity throughout the Caribbean.
Results and Financial Impact
In August 2025, the Coast Guard offloaded 76,140 pounds of cocaine valued at $473 million (U.S. Coast Guard, 2025).
These seizures denied more than half a billion dollars to criminal organizations and demonstrated that the hybrid military-judicial model produced measurable economic losses for narco-terrorist networks.
The Narco-Terrorist Axis: Cartel of the Suns, Tren de Aragua, and Hezbollah
The Cartel of the Suns, embedded in the Venezuelan military hierarchy, provides logistics, protection, and coordination for cocaine shipments.
Its execution arm, the Tren de Aragua, extends those networks throughout the hemisphere.
Intelligence and Treasury reports identify a financial and logistical overlap between Venezuelan officials linked to the Cartel of the Suns and actors connected to Hezbollah, involved in gold smuggling and money laundering.
This fusion connects regional criminal profit with global terrorist alliances.
Air Activity and Prolonged NOTAMs in the Eastern Caribbean
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) maintains an active long-term NOTAM regarding the maritime corridor between Ceiba and Vieques, Puerto Rico, an area historically used by the U.S. Navy for weapon trials, interdiction operations, and surveillance system testing.
The notice, officially published on the FAA NOTAM Search portal (https://notams.aim.faa.gov/), has a five-month validity, an unusually long duration for such air restrictions. Operationally, this indicates continuous military presence, rotation of joint units, and sustained ISR (Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance) activities under the authority of Southern Command (SOUTHCOM).
From an analytical and field perspective—as a former naval intelligence officer—the duration and location of the NOTAM directly coincide with the operational radius of the Joint Task Force Caribbean (CJTF-Caribbean), which centralizes strategic denial and control missions over the regional maritime and airspace.
This public and verifiable evidence reinforces that the eastern Caribbean has transformed into an active operational theater, where the Department of Defense combines interdiction, hemispheric defense, and deterrence missions against state and non-state threats linked to the Cartel of the Suns and its allies.
Risks and Realities
The deployment of bombers and naval units for anti-drug purposes carries diplomatic and operational risks.
Some regional governments have warned about militarization (WOLA, 2025), but the absence of satellite monitoring and the resurgence of coca crops left Washington with few alternatives.
The Definitive Measure: Saving American Lives
The cocaine entering the United States is increasingly being mixed with fentanyl, a synthetic opioid lethal in microdoses.
Intelligence anticipates that this practice will continue, turning addiction into a weapon to maximize casualties.
Despite the integration of Title 10, coca crops and the production of “super-cocaine” remain at high levels (UNODC, 2024).
The United States faces an asymmetric attack without a single shot: chemical weapons from the trade that kill tens of thousands each year.
The defense of the nation starts now outside its shores, through maritime interdiction and disruption of supply chains.
The mission is clear: protect American lives before the poison arrives.
Jesús Romero retired after more than 37 years of service in the U.S. government. He enlisted in the Navy in 1984, received his officer degree from Norfolk State University, and was designated Naval Intelligence Officer. He also served in the Army as an Intelligence Operations Specialist. He quickly rose through the military ranks and had a distinguished career both in civil service and diplomacy. He became an officer through the Navy’s Chief Warrant Officer Commissioning Program, graduating with honors from Norfolk State University with a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. He subsequently graduated from the Naval Aviation Pre-Flight Indoctrination Course at the Naval Aviation Schools Command and completed his intermediate training in the VT-10 and VT-86 squadrons. He served aboard a nuclear missile cruiser, amphibious operations ships, and staff squadrons, a fixed-wing bombing squadron, and an embarked air wing. He was deployed to Libya, Bosnia, Iraq, and Somalia. He conducted missions at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) in Panama, the Pacific Joint Intelligence Center in Hawaii, and the Joint Personnel Recovery Accounting Command. Jesús led U.S. government operational efforts to locate missing U.S. personnel, with access to Burma, Cambodia, China, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam for research and recovery operations.
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