As Floridians prepare for the holiday season, we’re used to seeing our state fill with family reunions, returning college students and service members finally home from long deployments abroad.
But this year, thousands of our men and women stationed under the U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM) and Special Operations Command (SOCOM) may not make it back in time — or at all. President Trump’s aggressive escalation in Latin America is pulling our military deeper into a regional crisis of his own making, and Florida will be the first state to feel the impact.
Over the past several months, the Trump administration has dramatically increased U.S. military presence throughout the hemisphere, particularly near Venezuela and Colombia. Under the newly launched Operation Southern Spear, nearly a dozen Navy ships, including one of our most advanced aircraft carriers, along with roughly 12,000 sailors and Marines, have been deployed throughout the Caribbean and Pacific waters. What was once framed as a counter-narcotics mission has become a show of force unprecedented in recent hemispheric history.
Along with the increased military presence, U.S. forces have conducted a series of deadly air and naval strikes against small vessels in the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. More than 80 people have been killed in these attacks in just three months. The administration insists these individuals were “narco-terrorists,” but provides little transparency, no clear proof of this claim, and no evidence that the United States is operating within established domestic or international law.
And now, the president is openly threatening to put “boots on the ground” in both Venezuela and Mexico — a drastic, destabilizing escalation that military families in our state know could mean long deployments, unpredictable risks and the real possibility of casualties.
At the same time the administration is flexing its military muscle, it is quietly dismantling the very tools that have kept the Western Hemisphere stable for decades. USAID’s programs supporting democracy, health, development and peacebuilding in Colombia and Venezuela have been terminated. The State Department, traditionally our first line of defense in avoiding armed conflict, has been sidelined and weakened. These actions have severely damaged our ability to prevent crises before they require military intervention.
As a result, we are creating the very instability we claim to be combating.
When diplomatic, humanitarian and economic tools disappear, conflict fills the vacuum. Populations under pressure, such as Venezuelans fleeing repression and Colombians trapped between armed groups, will have fewer options for safety at home. That means more refugees heading north. More human suffering. And inevitably, more people arriving on Florida’s shores.
Florida has always been tied closely to Latin America — culturally, economically, demographically and geographically. What happens in Venezuela, Colombia or the Caribbean doesn’t stay there. It shows up in our ports, in our job markets, in our schools and in our politics. And it shows up most painfully in the lives of our military families.
Naval Station Mayport, Homestead Air Reserve Base, MacDill Air Force Base, SOUTHCOM and SOCOM are deeply entwined with missions in the region. Our families already know the stress of long deployments. But this new strategy — marked by erratic decisions, unclear objectives and legally questionable operations — compounds uncertainty. Our military parents may miss another holiday season. Their children may face months without seeing mom or dad.
Meanwhile, our state’s economy — dependent on trade, tourism and stability in the region — is put at risk. Escalating conflict could disrupt shipping lanes, depress regional markets, and fray ties with economic partners throughout the hemisphere.
If the United States continues down this path — replacing diplomacy with drones, aid with airstrikes, and partnership with provocation — we will find ourselves embroiled in conflicts we didn’t need, facing migrations we helped trigger, and asking families in Florida to bear the burden.
Lynn Northcutt Vega is a retired career foreign service officer, member of National Security Leaders for America, and an international development and foreign affairs professional based in Springfield, Virginia.
