Venezuela doesn’t like US Marines training in Caribbean

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00:00Venezuela's President, Nicolas Maduro, says he's ready to declare a state of emergency

00:06in his country if the United States attacks.

00:10While we obviously don't know if that will happen, the US military certainly has the

00:15pieces in place to make it happen.

00:21The United States Marine Corps posted these pictures on its official X account.

00:26The images show a number of LAV-25s on a beach in Puerto Rico.

00:31While the display took place about 600 miles away from Venezuela, it sends an obvious message

00:37to Caracas.

00:40The US Marine Corps is ready to give President Donald Trump all the options he could want

00:45to stop the flow of drugs from narco-terrorists and other nefarious actors in the region, including

00:52Venezuela.

00:53Up until this point, most of the US military action in the region was directed at small

00:59boats the Trump administration said were running drugs destined for the United States.

01:04But LAV-25s signal the focus could shift to land-based operations if the President so chooses.

01:13The eight-wheeled vehicles are fairly fast and agile considering their size.

01:18They run with three-man crews and can transport up to six troops.

01:23Armed with Bushmaster 25mm chainguns and outfitted with a suite of sensors, LAV-25s are designed

01:32for quick assaults, reconnaissance missions, and can provide security as well.

01:38And the LAVs are just one part of the total force posture that comes along with sending

01:44the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit to the Caribbean.

01:48The 22nd MU is attached to the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, which consists of three boats,

01:55the USS Iwo Jima, a WASP-class landing ship, and two amphibious transport docks, the USS Fort

02:03Lauderdale, and USS San Antonio.

02:07The ARG-MEU spent the bulk of September running drills in the Caribbean, which means lots of

02:12practice at launching amphibious assaults, moving troops and equipment from ship to shore,

02:18while USMC attack helicopters and Harrier jets practice providing air support.

02:24When the US first started sending ships to the Caribbean, I reported at the time a land

02:28invasion wasn't necessarily likely because there were no amphibious assault ships in the

02:34region yet.

02:35Well, the presence of the ARG-MEU training so close to Venezuela obviously changes the

02:40calculus on that a little bit, but we don't know how much.

02:46President Trump said he isn't really interested in talking about regime change in Venezuela,

02:51but the New York Times is now reporting there are growing calls in the White House to do just

02:56that and oust Nicolas Maduro because of his alleged ties to drug cartels.

03:02Maduro is, of course, denying the accusations of the links to drug cartels and condemning

03:08the buildup of US forces in the region, which is massive.

03:12In addition to the ARG-MEU, the United States Navy has three guided missile destroyers operating

03:17in the Caribbean right now, the USS Jason Dunham, the USS Gravely, and USS Stockdale.

03:26The USS Lake Erie, a guided missile cruiser, is also steaming around in the region, as is

03:31the USS Minneapolis St. Paul, a freedom variant littoral combat ship.

03:37Oh, and there are also ten F-35 fighter jets on Puerto Rico that are also conducting operation

03:44against drug cartels in the region.

03:47Safe to say, this is not the war on drugs I remember from the 80s.

03:52For more reporting like this, download the Straight Arrow News app today.

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