The United States Navy has ordered the deployment of the guided-missile cruiser USS Lake Erie (CG-70) and the nuclear-powered fast-attack submarine USS Newport News (SSN-750) to the southern Caribbean as part of operations targeting drug cartels and transnational crime groups in Venezuela.

According to Zona Militar, the warships are expected to arrive in the area early next week.

On Friday evening, Agence France-Presse spotted the USS Lake Erie, a Ticonderoga-class guided-missile cruiser, transiting the Panama Canal en route to the Caribbean.

These additions build on a larger U.S. presence already in the Caribbean. Earlier in August, the Navy sent the USS Iwo Jima (LHD-7), USS San Antonio (LPD-17), and USS Fort Lauderdale (LPD-28), bringing roughly 4,500 personnel.

Three Arleigh Burke-class destroyers: USS Gravely (DDG-107), USS Jason Dunham (DDG-109), and USS Sampson (DDG-102) and the littoral combat ship USS Minneapolis-St. Paul (LCS-21) are also operating in the area. Each destroyer carries the U.S. Coast Guard detachments authorized for interdictions.

The buildup follows repeated accusations by the Trump administration that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro leads the Cartel de los Soles, a drug trafficking network. In July, the U.S. Treasury designated the group as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist organization. 

Earlier in August, the U.S. doubled the bounty on Maduro’s capture, raising it from $25 million to $50 million, the second increase this year.

Maduro, who denied the accusations, condemned the U.S. deployment as a threat to Venezuela’s sovereignty. In response, he announced the mobilization of more than four million militia members.

On Tuesday, Venezuela deployed warships and drones to patrol its coastline in response to the U.S. naval buildup.