US Marines stormed Panama’s Caribbean coast this week for another round of combat drills as tensions spike between Washington and Venezuela.
Roughly 50 Marines and Panamanian police staged a mock battlefield rescue Tuesday at the old U.S. base in Sherman, near the Atlantic entrance of the Panama Canal. Troops practiced pulling a wounded fighter out of a firefight and lifting him out by helicopter.
The exercise kicked off just one day after President Donald Trump huddled with his National Security Council over the escalating standoff with Caracas.
US Army Capt. Nelson Marchan, who was born in Venezuela, said he had no indication the drills were tied to any potential military move to oust Venezuelan strongman Nicolás Maduro, who recently claimed the United States might invade.
“I have no knowledge of that,” Marchan said.
The United States has already deployed the world’s largest aircraft carrier, along with additional warships, fighter jets and thousands of troops, to the Caribbean. Officials insist the firepower is aimed at crushing drug trafficking in the region.
US troops joined Panamanian forces for a jungle survival and air-evacuation drill as tensions with Venezuela continue to escalate. The drills come as Washington ramps up military activity in the Caribbean and carries out strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats. pic.twitter.com/7THk167stW
— New York Post (@nypost) December 3, 2025
On Monday, White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt declined to rule out sending US troops onto Venezuelan soil, hours after Trump confirmed he spoke directly with Maduro.
Trump signaled last week that the United States would “very soon” start targeting “Venezuelan drug traffickers” in operations “on the ground.”
The Panama drills have been running since August under a bilateral security pact Trump pushed through after warning he could take back the canal, claiming Beijing holds too much control there. Another round followed in October.
The current training cycle runs through December 18 with 25 Marines and 25 Panamanian officers participating, said Capt. Ariel Rosas of Panama’s National Aeronaval Service.
“We use the experience of our Panamanian instructors to help us survive in the jungle,” Marchan said.
Three more exercises are already scheduled for next year. Panama’s president, José Raúl Mulino, insisted the training has nothing to do with “any hostile act against Venezuela.”
