In a social media post, the US defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, just announced “Operation Southern Spear”, a new military mission apparently signaling that the war on drugs could soon be an actual war.
“President Trump ordered action — and the Department of War is delivering. Today, I’m announcing Operation SOUTHERN SPEAR. Led by Joint Task Force Southern Spear and [US Southern Command],” Hegseth wrote on X.
This mission, he added, “defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people. The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood – and we will protect it.”
He offered no other details, as strikes on suspected drug boats in the Caribbean and a massing of forces in the region have prompted widespread speculation that US military strikes on Venezuela are imminent.
The US Southern Command (Southcom) is the US military’s combatant command that encompasses 31 countries through South and Central America and the Caribbean.
Bizarrely, Hegseth’s announcement of the new operation on Thursday comes nearly 10 months after US Naval Forces Southern Command announced in January that “Operation Southern Spear … will start later this month” and would use “a heterogeneous mix of Robotic and Autonomous Systems (RAS) to support the detection and monitoring of illicit trafficking” in the Caribbean.
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