The United States’ top military officer, Gen. Dan Caine, visited American troops in Puerto Rico and aboard a Navy warship on Monday, as President Donald Trump ramps up pressure on Venezuela over alleged drug trafficking.

Caine, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, was joined by his senior enlisted adviser, David L. Isom. According to Caine’s office, the visit aimed to “engage with service members and thank them for their outstanding support to regional missions.”

This is Caine’s second visit since the U.S. military expanded its presence in the Caribbean, including deploying the nation’s most advanced aircraft carrier and hundreds of Marines earlier this year. Officials have described the forces as “on the front lines of defending the American homeland.”

Trump has not ruled out military action against Venezuela as part of an escalating campaign targeting drug-smuggling operations. U.S. strikes on 21 suspected drug boats have killed over 80 people, and the administration recently designated Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization, a move that provides additional options for pressuring President Nicolás Maduro.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the designation opens “a whole bunch of new options” for the U.S., but he did not clarify whether strikes inside Venezuela were planned. “Nothing is off the table, but nothing’s automatically on the table,” Hegseth told conservative media outlet OAN.

The Trump administration has increasingly targeted Latin American criminal organizations with the terrorist label, previously reserved for groups like al-Qaida and ISIS, citing their involvement in drug and migrant trafficking.