U.S. forces continue to ramp up their presence in the Caribbean. The USS Gerald R. Ford, the nation’s largest and most advanced aircraft carrier, is in the Caribbean. Numerous combat aircraft are now in the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico. U.S. drones continue to target alleged drug smugglers operating out of Venezuela while President Donald Trump ups the rhetoric against Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro.

Maduro and his predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez, transformed Venezuela from South America’s wealthiest country into its second-poorest after Bolivia. The problem is not only socialist self-destruction, but also the Venezuelan regime’s willingness to transform itself into a haven for terrorist sponsorship and revisionist states.