Pentagon notes Mexican cartel concerns as US ramps up forces and operations in Caribbean and Pacific

The Pentagon has released pictures of boat attacks in the Caribbean, shown here. (US Department of Defense)

With the United States bolstering its strength and operations in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean, the Pentagon is looking at curtailing cartel activities in Mexico, according to US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

“We believe that Mexico should address that cartel problem and be really aggressive about it, and they have done so in some quarters,” Hegseth said in a 20 November briefing with the media, according to an online Pentagon report released on 21 November.

“But, in others, the poisoning of the American people still continues, and – as the president has said – we are going to stop this,” Hegseth said.

Speaking outside to the media on 19 November, Stephen Miller, US homeland security adviser, said, “The president is clear; we are going to secure our Western Hemisphere,” adding that “narco-traffickers are a threat”.

To curtail narco-traffickers' operations, “US Southern Command has conducted at least 20 lethal maritime strikes on intelligence-confirmed narco-terrorists in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific Ocean since September,” the Pentagon noted in its 21 November report of Hegseth's media briefing.

The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) noted and quantified the US military build up to address these threats in its online analysis, Trump's Caribbean Campaign: The Data Behind Operation Southern Spear, updated on 14 November.

“The sharp edge of ongoing operations has been attacks on suspected drug smuggling boats,” the CSIS noted.