United States President Donald Trump’s campaign against “narcoterrorists” has transformed the Caribbean into a new battlefield.

Since August, Washington has deployed thousands of troops, warships and aircraft across the region, and reopened military bases in Puerto Rico and conducted drills, in what analysts describe as the largest US presence in Latin America in decades.

In September, the US began a series of strikes on Venezuelan boats it claims were trafficking drugs to the US, with the latest attack on Friday killing six people on board. Last week, Trump announced that he had authorised covert CIA operations in Venezuela and that he was even mulling a land attack.

However, on Thursday, Trump denied that all this amounts to a declaration of war on Venezuela.

“Well, I don’t think

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