Peruvian army personnel during operations against alleged drug trafficking. Cris Bouroncle/AFP via Getty Images, CC BY More than any other U.S. president in decades, Donald Trump has aggressively pursued military interventions in Latin America. On Jan. 3, 2026, U.S. special forces captured Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on charges of narco-terrorism. In the months before the operation, U.S. Southern Command began targeting small, fast-moving boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. The