BY the time the year comes to a close on December 31, the United States would have carried out one of the largest naval deployments to the Caribbean in more than two decades, sending multiple warships, 15,000 troops and the world’s largest aircraft carrier into waters once considered a “zone of peace”.

Accompanied by nearly 30 lethal so-called “boat strikes” that have killed at least 100 traversing the Caribbean and Pacific, the build-up sent the region’s small islands and South American countries into uncertainty, stoking fear of escalation, armed conflict and, in the case of Venezuela, the possibility of forced regime change.