President Donald Trump’s administration could revive several deactivated U.S. military bases in Latin America as tensions with Venezuela rise.
The administration has begun preparing for the return of U.S. military troops in Puerto Rico and Panama.
While a vote to revive foreign military bases in Ecuador failed this morning, satellite imagery and photographs have captured U.S. troops and contractors inside two other possible military strongholds for the United States in the region.
Roosevelt Roads Naval Station in Puerto Rico was deactivated in 2004. However, in September, the base was revitalized by the Pentagon as it sent F-35B fighter jets, MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, and CH-53K King Stallion helicopters to the station.
Days after, construction crews were photographed repaving taxiways and clearing facilities at the station and its nearby areas.
Satellite images have shown a surge in tents for construction in the base’s airstrip, and a general overhaul of the base’s infrastructure.
In early November, the U.S. announced the Combined Jungle Operations Training Course, a jungle warfare training program for U.S. troops in Panama.
Trained by the U.S. Southern Command, the conventional troops, including U.S. soldiers and Marines, began training in a previously abandoned base.
The training program signals the revival of the Fort Sherman military base, which was transferred to the Panamanian government in 1999 as part of the deal to transfer ownership of the Panama Canal.
The new training program comes after the Trump administration struck a deal with the Panamanian government to allow a heavier presence of U.S. military troops in the country.
The escalation of U.S. military presence in the region comes after Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro has made numerous threats to American forces.
OPINION: MADURO REGRETS US WAR THREATS
Venezuelan forces “will fight if [American forces] dare set foot in Venezuela,” Maduro’s communist regime said before the Trump administration engaged in military power operations off Venezuela’s coast.
On Tuesday, Maduro announced a “massive mobilization” of troops in the country in response to the presence of the Navy aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford in the southern Caribbean Sea.
