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Two top U.S. military leaders will visit Puerto Rico on Monday to meet with troops and express gratitude for their work supporting missions in the Caribbean and Latin America.
Pentagon officials announced the trip in a memo on Sunday, saying the trip would include meetings with service members deployed to Puerto Rico and sailors serving in the Caribbean.
“Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Kane and SEAC David L. Isom are visiting Puerto Rico on November 24, 2025, to connect with service members for the second time and thank them for their outstanding support of regional missions,” the media advisory states. “They will also meet and thank seafarers serving at sea for their dedicated, unwavering service in SOUTHCOM’s area of responsibility.”
Kaine and War Secretary Pete Hegseth made the first visit in September, when they stopped by the Trump administration to show support for troops training on the island.
War Secretary Hegseth lands in Puerto Rico as US escalates Caribbean cartel fight with naval forces
Hegseth addresses a contingent of US troops at Muniz Air Base in Carolina on September 8, 2025, amid an expanded military buildup in the Caribbean. (Credit: Puerto Rico Governor Jennifer Gonzalez-Colón)
The meeting took place at Muniz Air Base in Carolina, outside San Juan, and was attended by top officials including Puerto Rico National Guard Adjutant General Carlos Jose Rivera-Román, Public Safety Secretary Brig. Gen. Arthur Garfar, and other senior military leaders.
Hegseth spoke to about 300 soldiers at the base, thanking them and describing them as “American warriors.” The Secretary of War also confirmed that the men serving in the armed forces would be the best equipped and prepared in the world.
The latest visit comes amid rising tensions in the Caribbean Sea, as the US military expands its naval footprint near Venezuela, part of President Donald Trump’s effort to stem the flow of drugs from Latin America.
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Fox News has confirmed that Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Cain, will host European military counterparts on Tuesday to discuss Ukrainian security guarantees. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Earlier this month, Hegseth announced the official launch of Operation Southern Spear, a mission targeting narco-terrorist networks across Latin America.
Hegseth said at the time that U.S. Southern Command and Joint Task Force Southern Spear would lead the mission to defend the homeland and destroy narco-terrorist networks in the Western Hemisphere.
“This mission protects our homeland, removes narco-terrorists from our hemisphere, and secures our homeland from the drugs that are killing our people,” Hegseth said.
Hegseth announces operation to remove ‘narco-terrorists from our hemisphere’
Hegseth said the ship was smuggling drugs. (War Department)
Since the beginning of September, U.S. military forces have carried out several deadly strikes against narcotics vessels operated by designated terrorist organizations in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, destroying dozens of vessels linked to Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang and Colombia’s Ejército de Liberación Nacional. An estimated 82 suspected narco-terrorists were killed in the attacks, while three survived.
The campaign began with an attack on September 2 that killed 11 alleged members of the Tren de Aragua and continued with a series of targeted operations through October and November, eliminating dozens of others on known smuggling routes.
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US forces have targeted submarines, fishing boats and high-speed vessels, including an ELN-affiliated craft that was criticized by Colombia’s president after it killed three people.
Many of the attacks occurred near the Venezuelan coast, while others occurred in the eastern Pacific, where most recent operations have been concentrated.
