The new war on drugs

Bringing tactics from the war on terror to America's backyard.

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For two decades Roosevelt Roads, a sprawling American naval base in Puerto Rico, stood abandoned.

Now the roar of fighter jets and whirring of helicopters have returned to fill the humid air. Over the past month air force personnel have laboured to restore the airstrip's control tower and decrepit infrastructure, while hulking cargo planes ferry in crateloads of supplies and equipment.

America is reviving the base as a staging ground for its expanding war against Latin America's drug gangs.

Since August, it has surged assets to the Caribbean. A naval flotilla now sits off the coast of Venezuela, boasting three destroyers, a guided-missile cruiser, an attack submarine and amphibious assault ships. F-35 fighter jets, MQ-9 Reaper drones and a handful of advanced spy planes have also deployed to nearby airbases.

Drone strikes have blasted away four speedboats in the southern Caribbean and killed 21 people so far. American officials allege they were "narco-terrorists" from Venezuela.

The display of force is emblematic of America's new war on drugs. Since returning to office in January, US President Donald Trump has vowed to smash the region's cartels and drug traffickers.

Once considered a mere matter of law enforcement, the government is throwing the heft of its armed forces into the fight and riding roughshod over the laws of war. "The cartels are waging war in America," the President told Congress in March. "And it's time for America to wage war on the cartels."

In recent years, America's armed forces and intelligence agencies have prioritised fighting a war against China or Russia. Now they are being asked to focus on threats closer to home.

An assessment published in March by America's 18 intelligence agencies elevated the threat of cartels over that of jihadists.