Portions of the U.S. Marine Corps' 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, including much of its Air Combat Element, relocated from the USS Iwo Jima to operate out of Puerto Rico, as the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group conducted fleet maneuvers with the MV Ocean Trader special warfare support vessel in the Caribbean Sea at geolocation 13.35894, -66.28738, according to a FaytuksNetwork post on X citing a U.S. Navy statement over the past 59 minutes ending at 10:45 p.m. UTC on December 24, 2025. The maneuvers follow a week of U.S. special operations forces reinforcing U.S. Southern Command, with the MV Ocean Trader described as a special operations mothership joining the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group in the southern Caribbean Sea, per the FaytuksNetwork post shared during the reporting window from 9:46 p.m. to 10:45 p.m. UTC. This development updates prior observations of the Iwo Jima ARG conducting similar maneuvers with the MV Ocean Trader earlier on December 24, as stated in a LatAmMilMVMTs post on X reported in the previous hour. U.S. Air Force assets, including nine MQ-9A Reapers and five MC-130J Commando II aircraft, continue operating from Rafael Hernández International Airport in Aguadilla for Caribbean counternarcotics operations, according to LatAmMilMVMTs and Flightwatcher1 posts on X from earlier today. An E-11A aircraft with callsign BACN07 was detected on the ground at Luis Muñoz MarĂn International Airport in San Juan during the prior reporting window, as posted by LatAmMilMVMTs. Separately, President Donald Trump stated on Venezuela, “Now we’re gonna have to do the land, the land is much easier,” according to a CrannofonixNews post on X during the current window.
