Caribbean Confrontation

Why, exactly, has the Trump Administration dispatched 2200 Marines, several guided missile destroyers, and at least one nuclear attack sub(!) towards the northern coast of Venezuela?

Ostensibly to interdict drug traffickers based in Venezuela on their way to the United States… except that explanation makes no sense. The Coast Guard can do that. So what’s really going on?

We don’t know for sure, but we can make some educated guesses, based on the history of U.S. interference in the internal affairs of Latin America, the (odious) nature of the Maduro regime, Venezuela’s autocratic allies, the various foreign and domestic priorities of the second Trump Administration… among other factors.