Top military leaders head to Puerto Rico to thank troops supporting Caribbean missions

Two of the U.S. military’s top leaders will visit Puerto Rico on Monday to meet with troops and express gratitude for their work supporting missions across the Caribbean and Latin America.

Pentagon officials announced the visit in a memo on Sunday, saying the trip will include meetings with service members stationed in Puerto Rico and sailors operating in the Caribbean.

“Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine and SEAC David L. Isom are visiting Puerto Rico on November 24, 2025, for the second time to engage with service members and thank them for their outstanding support to regional missions,” the media advisory read. “They will also visit and thank Sailors operating at sea for their dedicated, unwavering service in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility.”

Caine and Secretary of War Pete Hegseth marked the first visit in September, when they stopped by on behalf of the Trump administration to show support for troops training on the island.

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The meeting took place at Muñiz Air Base in Carolina, outside San Juan, and drew top brass, including Puerto Rico National Guard Adjutant General Carlos José Rivera-Román, Public Safety Secretary Brig. Gen. Arthur Garffer, and other senior military leaders.

Hegseth spoke to nearly 300 soldiers at the base, thanking and describing them as “American warriors.” The secretary of war also affirmed that those serving in the armed forces will be the best equipped and prepared in the world.

The latest visit comes amid rising tensions in the Caribbean Sea, as the U.S. military expands its naval footprint near Venezuela, part of President Donald Trump’s push to choke off drug flows from Latin America.

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Earlier this month, Hegseth announced the official launch of Operation Southern Spear, a mission targeting narco-terror networks across Latin America.

Hegseth said on X at the time that U.S. Southern Command and Joint Task Force Southern Spear will lead the mission to defend the homeland and dismantle narco-terrorist networks across the Western Hemisphere.

“This mission defends our Homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our Hemisphere, and secures our Homeland from the drugs that are killing our people,” Hegseth said.

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Since early September, U.S. military forces have carried out numerous lethal strikes against narcotics vessels operated by designated terrorist organizations in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, destroying dozens of ships tied to Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang and Colombia’s Ejército de Liberación Nacional. The attacks have killed an estimated 82 suspected narco-terrorists, with three survivors.

The campaign began Sept. 2 with a strike that killed 11 alleged members of Tren de Aragua and continued through October and November with a series of targeted operations that eliminated dozens more across known trafficking routes.

U.S. forces have hit submersibles, fishing boats and high-speed vessels, including one ELN-affiliated craft that drew criticism from Colombia’s president after three men were killed.

Several strikes took place near Venezuela’s coast, while others occurred in the eastern Pacific, where most recent operations have been concentrated.