Rubio heads to Caribbean to reassert US interests after Venezuela strikes and Iran threats

Rubio has long championed a greater U.S. role in the Western Hemisphere and aims to keep it in focus even as Trump's Republican administration has now shifted its top foreign policy priority to Iran. American forces are massing in even larger numbers in the Middle East than in the run-up to the Jan. 3 operation in Venezuela that captured and deposed Maduro.

Maduro was brought to the U.S. to face charges of working with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine into the U.S. and has pleaded not guilty.

Trump’s action against Maduro, coupled with an increasingly aggressive posture aimed at eliminating drug trafficking and illegal migration, have proven a concern for many in the region — although they have also won support from some smaller states.

Trump, Rubio and others have likened the administration’s Western Hemisphere strategy to the Monroe Doctrine, with its rejection of outside influences and assertion of U.S. primacy throughout what they consider to be “America’s backyard.”

Trump has said his ouster of Maduro, military strikes on alleged drug-running vessels in the Caribbean, seizures of sanctioned oil tankers and tightened embargo of Cuba are key parts of a Trump corollary to the 19th-century policy that he refers to as the “Donroe Doctrine.”

Most recently, that has manifested itself in U.S. intelligence support for weekend Mexican government operations that killed notorious Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes and sparked riots in several well-known tourist resorts.

Neither Mexico nor Venezuela is a full member of CARICOM, which includes 15 mainly island nations and South and Central American mainland littoral states. But like the United States, Mexico and Venezuela have observer status in the grouping.

In numerous group and bilateral meetings at the CARICOM meeting, Rubio intends to discuss ways to promote regional security and stability, trade and economic growth, the State Department said in a statement Monday. It was unclear which officials Rubio would meet with in Basseterre, the capital of the two-island nation.

"During his visit, the Secretary will reaffirm the United States’ commitment to working with CARICOM member states to enhance stability and prosperity in our hemisphere,” the department said.

Besides the immediate safety and security concerns in the Caribbean, the U.S. has a vested interest in several CARICOM members, including St. Kitts and Nevis, that are among the few countries in the world to have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, a self-governing island that Beijing considers to be part of Chinese territory.

The U.S., which does not have diplomatic relations with Taiwan but sells it weapons, wants to counter Chinese influence in Latin America and the Caribbean built through massive loans and expansive trade.

Trump has invited Latin American leaders to take part in a summit in Florida next month, coming ahead of his trip to Beijing.

St. Kitts and Nevis is among six countries in the Caribbean and Central America to still recognize Taiwan. U.S. lawmakers have introduced a bill that could provide $120 million over three years in assistance to Taiwan’s official and unofficial partners.

Associated Press writer Didi Tang contributed to this report.