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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.

De­fense Sec­re­tary Pe­te Hegseth will trav­el to San­to Domin­go, Do­mini­can Re­pub­lic, and meet Wednes­day with the coun­try’s top lead­ers, in­clud­ing Pres­i­dent Luis Abi­nad­er, Min­is­ter of De­fense Lt. Gen. Car­los An­to­nio Fer­nán­dez Onofre and oth­er of­fi­cials, the Pen­ta­gon said Tues­day.

The an­nounce­ment came the same day that Gen­er­al Dan Caine, chair­man of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Pres­i­dent Don­ald Trump’s pri­ma­ry mil­i­tary ad­vis­er, met with Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar.