Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and President Donald Trump’s chief military adviser, is visiting American troops in Puerto Rico and aboard a Navy warship Monday, officials confirmed. He will be joined by David L. Isom, his senior enlisted adviser.
According to The Associated Press, Caine’s office said the visit is intended to “engage with service members and thank them for their outstanding support to regional missions.”
This marks Caine’s second trip to the area since the U.S. began significantly increasing its military presence in the region, which now includes the nation’s most advanced aircraft carrier.
Caine and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth previously visited Puerto Rico in September when hundreds of U.S. Marines arrived for what the Pentagon described as a training exercise. At the time, Hegseth said the Marines were “on the front lines of defending the American homeland.”
The current visit comes amid heightened U.S. operations targeting alleged drug-smuggling boats, which have resulted in more than 80 deaths across 21 vessels.
The military buildup and strikes are widely viewed as a strategic pressure tactic aimed at Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, with some suggesting the goal is to encourage him to resign.
Trump has not ruled out direct military action against Venezuela as part of the administration’s broader campaign to combat narcotics trafficking into the United States.
Alongside the military operations, the Trump administration has designated the Cartel de los Soles, or Cartel of the Suns, as a foreign terrorist organization. U.S. officials claim Maduro leads the group, although it is not formally considered a cartel in the traditional sense.
Historically, the foreign terrorist designation has been reserved for groups like al-Qaida or the Islamic State, which carry out political violence.
Earlier this year, the administration expanded the label to include eight Latin American criminal organizations involved in drug trafficking, migrant smuggling, and related activities.
Hegseth told conservative outlet OAN last week that the new designation provides a “whole bunch of new options to the United States” for dealing with Maduro, but did not elaborate.
“So nothing is off the table, but nothing’s automatically on the table,” he said, declining to confirm whether the U.S. plans to strike land targets inside Venezuela.
Caine’s visit underscores the Trump administration’s intensified focus on the region, combining a visible military presence with legal and diplomatic measures to counter alleged narcotics networks and exert pressure on the Venezuelan government.
