U.S. Security Arrangements in Central and South America: Strategic Posture Around Venezuela
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Hello, friends. The prospect of US involvement in Venezuela is in the news, as there is RUMINT that the US National Defense Strategy will pivot away from Russia/China and focus more on regional/hemispheric concerns.
This week's sinking of a Venezuelan drug boat (which killed 11 people) represents a clear escalation towards Maduro, and reports of increased US military activity in the Gulf and Caribbean are floating around (no pun intended).
With this in mind, I took some time to brush up on some of the more relevant publicly acknowledged security agreements in Central and South America, particularly as they relate to Venezuela.
To be clear, this report is compiled from public-facing sources accessible to AI search. I have no first-hand experience in South or Central America other than avoiding their uninsured migrants on the freeway in America. But if you like to track the news and want to read up on the broader context from a strategic perspective, you may find this useful and interesting.
This week's sinking of a Venezuelan drug boat (which killed 11 people) represents a clear escalation towards Maduro, and reports of increased US military activity in the Gulf and Caribbean are floating around (no pun intended).
With this in mind, I took some time to brush up on some of the more relevant publicly acknowledged security agreements in Central and South America, particularly as they relate to Venezuela.
To be clear, this report is compiled from public-facing sources accessible to AI search. I have no first-hand experience in South or Central America other than avoiding their uninsured migrants on the freeway in America. But if you like to track the news and want to read up on the broader context from a strategic perspective, you may find this useful and interesting.
The United States maintains a network of military arrangements, cooperative security locations, and bilateral agreements across Central and South America that extend its intelligence, surveillance, and enforcement capabilities. These arrangements are not conventional bases in the Cold War sense, but they provide staging access, aerial surveillance reach, and interoperability with regional forces. Taken together, they form a web of cooperative points that matter greatly in the context of regional challenges—particularly Venezuela.