Largest Western Hemisphere exercise stirs geopolitical concerns over U.S. operations in the Caribbean.

Between Sept. 15 and Oct. 6, U.S. Southern Command (SouthCom) is leading the 56th edition of the multinational naval exercise UNITAS, the oldest of its kind in the Western Hemisphere. This year’s drills are taking place off the U.S. East Coast.

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Born at the height of the Cold War, the exercises supported the 1973 coup in Chile that ended the Unidad Popular government led by Salvador Allende, which had sought to build socialism through democratic means.

UNITAS 2025 is unfolding against a geopolitical backdrop marked by the U.S. military presence in the Caribbean, part of a campaign officially described as countering international drug trafficking.

Some 8,000 troops, along with multiple surface ships, submarines, aircraft and unmanned fleet systems, are participating. Exercises are being staged on land near naval stations in Florida, North Carolina and Virginia.

The maneuvers include air defense, anti-submarine warfare, maritime interdiction, amphibious landings, live-fire drills — including a SINKEX (ship-sinking exercise) — and the integration of unmanned and hybrid systems.

Participating countries include Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, Paraguay, Peru, Portugal, Singapore, Spain, the United States and Uruguay.

“This year’s UNITAS exercise is expected to be one of the largest in history, only comparable to UNITAS Gold, the drill marking its 50th anniversary,” said Patrick Cooper, lead planner for UNITAS 2025.

UNITAS and the School of the Americas

The UNITAS drills emerged from the First Naval Conference held in Panama in 1959 and were conducted under the framework of the Inter-American Treaty of Reciprocal Assistance (TIAR).

Initially, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, the United States, Uruguay and Venezuela participated, focusing on countering the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Since 1999, UNITAS has been divided into three phases — Atlantic, Pacific and Caribbean — rotating clockwise and counterclockwise annually.

UNITAS 2018 Already Targeted Venezuela

“UNITAS is nothing more than a façade to impose, in the least traumatic way possible, a maritime blockade against Venezuela,” writer Jose Negron Valera argued, recalling a precedent from more than a century earlier.

In 1902, Germany, Britain and Italy imposed a naval blockade against Venezuela during the administration of Cipriano Castro to prevent the movement of supplies.

More recently, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis proposed that UNITAS 2018 begin in Colombian waters. The exercise coincided with U.S. officials’ visits to the region, which sought to intensify diplomatic and economic pressure on Venezuela’s Bolivarian Revolution.

Countries that took part in UNITAS 2018 included Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, the United Kingdom and the United States. The drills involved 18 ships, submarines and aircraft.

At the same time, Operation Enduring Promise deployed the USNS Comfort to Colombian ports under the pretext of providing medical assistance to Venezuelan migrants. At the time, former Bolivian President Evo Morales warned of U.S. intentions.

“We condemn the covert invasion of the U.S. government in LATAM by sending to Colombia a Pentagon ship under the excuse of humanitarian aid for Venezuelans. The USNS Comfort, with the capacity to carry war helicopters, is a threat against Venezuela. The best ‘aid’ is to respect the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people and lift the economic blockade that the U.S. empire has unjustly imposed,” he said.

SouthCom Strengthens Ties with Guyana

The UNITAS exercises are designed as annual naval maneuvers to improve interoperability and cooperation between U.S. maritime forces and Latin American allies.

In December 2024, the outlet Mision Verdad reported that SouthCom led the 2023 Tradewinds military exercises in Guyana, spanning air, land and sea operations for two weeks. These included joint missions with the Guyana Defense Force, held just days after Venezuela’s national referendum in which more than 10 million voters approved, by at least 95%, all questions posed.

In May 2024, the Guyanese government authorized the U.S. military to fly two F/A-18F Super Hornet fighter jets over Georgetown. The flights coincided with a visit by Maj. Gen. Julie Nethercot, SouthCom’s director of Strategy, Policy and Plans.

Mision Verdad also reported that the U.S. Embassy in Guyana announced SouthCom training sessions with the Guyana Defense Force in jungle operations, focusing on tactics, techniques and procedures.

The UNITAS 2025 – Caribbean Nexus

The massive UNITAS 2025 exercise forms part of the psychological warfare that U.S. military presence in the Caribbean seeks to deploy against the Venezuelan government and people.

In early September, the United States plans another major naval deployment in the Caribbean to “continue its mission of monitoring drug flows from Venezuela, which began almost a month ago,” according to Diario de las Americas.

“The mobilization of more U.S. ships coincides with the multinational naval exercise involving more than 25 partner and allied countries, and ‘the longest-running in the world,’ known as UNITAS 2025, which will take place along the U.S. East Coast beginning Sept. 15,” the report confirmed.

Currently, Argentine President Javier Milei is reportedly seeking to involve his country in a potential aggression against Venezuela, with Argentina’s participation in UNITAS 2025 seen as a first step.

“Argentina’s participation was formalized through Emergency and Necessity Decree 521/2025, Article 5, after Congress failed to act. Once the exercise ends, the ARA Argentina could remain available in the Caribbean area,” reported Escenario Mundial.

“Under that scenario, the Argentine government could consider temporarily joining U.S. naval operations in the region under the argument of combating drug trafficking,” the outlet added.

teleSUR/ JF

Sources: Escenario Mundial – SouthCom – teleSUR

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