Top US mil­i­tary of­fi­cials are meet­ing lead­ers of Caribbean na­tions this week as the Trump ad­min­is­tra­tion has es­ca­lat­ed its fire­pow­er in the re­gion as part of what it calls a cam­paign against drug traf­fick­ing.

War Sec­re­tary Pe­te Hegseth will trav­el to San­to Domin­go, Do­mini­can Re­pub­lic, to­day to meet the coun­try’s top lead­ers, in­clud­ing Pres­i­dent Luis Abi­nad­er, Min­is­ter of De­fence Lt Gen Car­los An­to­nio Fer­nán­dez Onofre and oth­er of­fi­cials, the As­so­ci­at­ed Press re­port­ed yes­ter­day.

The an­nounce­ment came the same day that the Chair­man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar met yes­ter­day.