The announcement of Operation Southern Spear by the United States in the Caribbean, under the direction of the Southern Command, marks a turning point in the regional strategy against drug trafficking and terrorism.
According to the analysis of Antonio De La Cruz, president of Inter American Trends, this initiative does not represent a simple operation, but a doctrinal transformation that redefines the balance of power in the hemisphere.
De La Cruz stated that “the United States has just made a move that will change the balance of power in the Caribbean for years: Operation SOUTHERN SPEAR. It is not an operation: it is a doctrine.”
The specialist emphasized that the decision came directly from President Donald Trump, with an immediate response from the War Department and execution by the Southern Command.
“A triangle of power that announces the essential: strategic patience with narco-terrorism is over,” De La Cruz said.
This change in focus implies that the enemy is no longer perceived as a simple cartel, but as a terrorist organization, which, in the analyst's words, means that"when the U.S. changes the name of your threat... it changes your destiny."
According to De La Cruz, Operation Lanza del Sur is characterized by a “geometry of pressure: fleets, radars, intelligence, sealed routes.
An advanced encirclement that leaves the Cartel of the Suns with only three options: flee, fracture, or fall.”
This strategy, far from being limited to a tactical deployment, seeks to progressively suffocate criminal organizations by cutting off routes, exposing operators and generating internal betrayals, all under constant external pressure.
“An operation designed to break the structure from within,” De La Cruz explained to the media outlet.
In this new scenario, the Southern Caribbean is transformed into a strategic chessboard with clear rules: “Exclusion zone for criminal actors. Red line for regimes that protect them. Strategic playground where the U.S. is once again marking its territory,” De La Cruz explained.
