US escalates its campaign against ‘narco-terrorism’ in Latin America with the launch of Operation Southern Spear

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on Thursday the start of a U.S. military operation to remove “narco-terrorists” from the Western Hemisphere.

In a message on X (formerly Twitter), the head of the Pentagon explained: “President Trump ordered action — and the Department of War is delivering. Today, I’m announcing Operation Southern Spear."

Hegseth did not specify exactly what he was referring to, although it can be inferred that he is naming and formalizing the campaign of extrajudicial U.S. military strikes against alleged drug-running boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific, as part of the pressure measures against the Venezuelan regime.

“Led by Joint Task Force Southern Spear and the U.S. Southern Command, this mission defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people. The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood — and we will protect it,” he added in the message, without providing further details.

In January, the Pentagon had announced the creation of the Joint Task Force Southern Spear force for the deployment of “surface vessels and drones” to, among other duties, “conduct anti-narcotics operations.”

Hegseth’s announcement comes just three days after the arrival of the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford — the largest in the world and the most modern in the U.S. fleet — to the area of responsibility of U.S. Southern Command in Latin America and the Caribbean. The ship and its escort group joined the flotilla already deployed in international waters at the edge of Venezuela’s territorial waters.

Its arrival had sparked speculation that Trump might order the start of a new phase in the military campaign, which could include direct attacks on targets inside Venezuelan territory.

On Thursday, Pentagon officials reported a new strike in the Caribbean against an alleged drug-running boat, which left four people dead. It is the 20th since the start of the extrajudicial operations campaign in September. In these operations, the U.S. military has killed 80 civilians.

On Wednesday, Hegseth and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Caine, led the weekly intelligence briefing that the U.S. president receives every Wednesday. In it, they had presented Trump with the different options in the military campaign.

The U.S. government insists that the objective of the campaign is the fight against drug trafficking, which kills tens of thousands of people every year in its territory. But numerous experts, and the president of Venezuela himself, Nicolás Maduro, believe that the real goal of the operation is to force a regime change in the Caribbean country.

In remarks to CNN during a street appearance, the Venezuelan president sent a message to the U.S. people, asking them in Spanish: “To unite for the peace of [the Americas]. No more endless wars. No more unjust wars. No more Libya. No more Afghanistan.” Asked by the journalist if he had any direct message for Trump, Maduro replied: “yes, peace.”

Early Thursday morning, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, for his part, ruled out that the government would send military forces to Mexico or undertake “unilateral actions” in the context of the war on drug trafficking.

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