Major staging activity in PR as US adds to its military buildup in region

By CHRISTIAAN TRIEBERT and HELENE COOPER

The United States military has dispatched a number of transport and cargo planes to the Caribbean this week, as President Donald Trump continues to ramp up military pressure on President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela, whom Trump has threatened with military action.

Over the past week through Tuesday, C-17 heavy-lift cargo planes — which are largely used for transporting military troops and equipment — conducted at least 16 flights to Puerto Rico from U.S. military bases, according to flight tracking data reviewed by The New York Times. The actual number of flights may be higher, as some military flights do not appear on public flight-tracking websites, according to air traffic control communications

The C-17s flew to Puerto Rico from bases in New Mexico, Illinois, Vermont, Florida, Arizona, Utah, Washington state and Japan. It was unclear how many troops or other equipment were transported aboard those flights. Defense officials declined to comment.

The United States Central Command has said that some 15,000 troops are already deployed in the Caribbean, one of the country’s largest naval deployments in recent years. On Monday, Trump called it a “massive armada” and said that he was planning action on land in Venezuela “soon.”

The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday that the United States has also recently moved special-operations aircraft to the Caribbean.

Trump in August secretly signed a directive to the Pentagon to begin using military force against certain Latin American drug cartels that his administration has deemed terrorist organizations. Since then, more than 100 people have been killed in a series of more than two dozen boat strikes.

Legal and military experts have raised questions about the legality of the administration’s military campaign. Congress has not authorized the strikes, nor has it declared a war on Venezuela.