U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Air Force Gen. Dan Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, arrived in Puerto Rico on Monday as the United States increases military activity in the Caribbean aimed at disrupting drug trafficking networks.
The visit followed the arrival of ships carrying hundreds of U.S. marines to Puerto Rico for amphibious training and comes as U.S. planners are preparing to deploy F‑35 fighter jets to the island to support operations against drug cartels, according to a person familiar with the planning who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deployments had not been made public.
Hegseth and Caine met with officials and service members at the 156th Wing Muñiz Air National Guard Base in Carolina, east of San Juan. Puerto Rico Governor Jenniffer González said Hegseth addressed nearly 300 soldiers at the base, thanking them, in her words, as “American warriors” for their service and for participating in training activity on the island.
González framed the military presence as part of U.S. efforts to counter drug trafficking, saying Puerto Rico’s location makes it strategically important to U.S. national security. "We thank President Trump and his administration for recognizing the strategic importance of Puerto Rico to U.S. national security and for their fight against drug cartels and the narco‑dictator Nicolás Maduro," she said.
The heightened military posture follows a rare U.S. strike in the southern Caribbean on Sept. 2 that killed 11 people aboard a vessel that had departed Venezuela and was suspected of carrying drugs. President Donald Trump said the vessel was operated by the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The strike drew mixed reactions across the region: the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago praised the action and urged harsher measures against traffickers, while leaders from other Caribbean countries sought clearer lines of communication with Washington.
Barbadian Foreign Minister Kerrie Symmonds told The Associated Press that members of the Caribbean Community sent a letter to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio seeking an open channel to avoid being surprised by any U.S. moves against Venezuela. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro vowed to defend his country’s sovereignty and urged the United States to pursue dialogue to prevent escalation.
Locally, the increased U.S. military presence has prompted protests and raised historical sensitivities about the use of Puerto Rican territory for U.S. training. Dozens gathered at the National Guard base in Carolina to protest the expanded military footprint and to warn against using the island as a staging area for possible operations in the region. Protesters carried signs reading "No to War" and "No to military bases in P.R.," and organizers cited past grievances involving training ranges.
Many Puerto Ricans recall the long legacy of U.S. military training on nearby Vieques, where the accidental death of civilian security guard David Sanes Rodríguez in April 1999 — when two 500‑pound bombs were dropped nearby during training — sparked widespread protests and eventually contributed to the U.S. military’s departure from the island. Activist Sonia Santiago Hernández, founder of Mothers Against War, said her group denounces the presence of military bases in Puerto Rico.
Officials and military spokespeople said the current amphibious training is a preplanned exercise and not directly tied to the maritime force recently operating in Caribbean waters. Siul López, a spokesman for Puerto Rico’s National Guard, said a group of marines training on the island are not connected to that maritime deployment and that the exercise typically would have been planned about a year in advance. López said the training began Aug. 31 but declined to provide a timetable for its conclusion or the exact number of marines involved.
González estimated that more than 1,000 marines were on the island. The Marine Corps, noting activity on Aug. 31, said marines and sailors from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit were conducting amphibious training and flight operations in southern Puerto Rico. "The challenging terrain and tropical climate of Puerto Rico provides an ideal environment for the 22nd MEU to conduct realistic amphibious training and hone specialized skills such as patrolling, reconnaissance and survival techniques, ensuring a high level of readiness while forward deployed," the Marine Corps said in a statement.
It was not immediately clear how long Hegseth and Caine planned to remain in Puerto Rico or whether they intended to visit additional sites on the island. López declined to comment on specifics of their itinerary.
U.S. officials have sought to balance operational secrecy with regional diplomatic sensitivities. The anonymous account of planned F‑35 deployments underlines the level of coordination and confidentiality military planners often maintain for force posture changes. Caribbean governments and regional blocs have pressed Washington for more communication about operations that could affect regional security and sovereignty.
For now, the immediate priorities outlined by U.S. and Puerto Rican officials center on training, readiness and operations to interdict illicit trafficking routes in the Caribbean. The presence of senior U.S. military leaders in Puerto Rico underscores the island’s role in those efforts and highlights continuing tensions between security objectives and local concerns born of decades of U.S. military activity in the region.