Latin America Defense Monitor — November 1–7, 2026
Weekly Edition · Saturday, 7 November 2026 · Issue #29
Executive Summary
The Big Picture: A strike on a Colombian guerrilla camp inside Venezuela, a national defence drill in Cuba and new US sanctions on Havana all landed in one week. For US readers, the week shows how many security questions around the Caribbean basin now involve Washington, from sanctions to reported intelligence support.
Reports from 1 to 6 November describe a strike on Friday, 30 October, in Venezuela’s Apure state, near the Colombian border, that killed at least 23 people, according to a Venezuelan human-rights group. Who carried it out is disputed, and neither Caracas nor Washington had confirmed anything officially in the reports we read.
In Cuba, the National Defence Council, the state body that directs national defence, ran the Moncada 2026 national drill on Wednesday, 4 and Thursday, 5 November, and the US Treasury announced new sanctions on Thursday, 5 November. In Colombia, two soldiers were killed in an explosive-drone attack that the Army attributes to the ELN, the National Liberation Army guerrilla group, and a truck-bomb and drone attack in Tolima killed four civilians.
Bottom Line Up Front: The Apure strike is the week’s biggest open question, because the accounts of US involvement conflict. We found no new US boat strike announced for 1–7 November, and we have no verified defence news for Brazil, Argentina, Mexico or Ecuador this week.
Latin America Defense Monitor: Where Things Stand
The Week’s Key Stories
1–7 November 2026
Strike on an ELN Camp Raises Questions About US Role
Reports from 1 to 6 November describe a strike on Friday, 30 October, on a camp of the ELN in Apure state, close to the Colombian border. Early reports spoke of 19 dead, and FundaRedes, a Venezuelan human-rights group that monitors the border, later put the toll at 23.
Four unnamed US officials told a major US newspaper that Washington provided intelligence and drones, and it is not clear who flew them. A Venezuelan officer is quoted as saying the Venezuelan armed forces carried out the strike without being told of any US role, while FundaRedes says only US aircraft took part.
Neither the Venezuelan government nor the US government had officially confirmed the operation in the reports we read.
Defence Drill, New US Sanctions and a Navy Port Call
Cuba’s National Defence Council held the Moncada 2026 exercise on Wednesday, 4 and Thursday, 5 November, followed by National Defence Day on Friday, 6 November.
On Thursday, 5 November, the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which administers US sanctions, announced new measures against Cuban-linked people, companies and vessels, including firms outside Cuba. Reported counts differ, so we do not give one.
On Saturday, 7 November, Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel rejected the sanctions in a post on X, calling them “lies and absurd” and speaking of economic strangulation. Separately, the US Navy says its littoral combat ship (a small, fast warship) USS Minneapolis-Saint Paul arrived at Naval Station Guantanamo Bay for a brief port visit, with a photo dated 4 November; the Navy’s release does not link the visit to any operation.
Salvadoran Troops Take Centre Stage in Port-au-Prince
Haiti’s Gang Suppression Force, the UN-authorised mission, lost contact with four Salvadoran aviation technicians after an ambush on Sunday, 18 October. Reports put the Salvadoran deployment above 2,000 soldiers; El Salvador has not published a total that we could verify.
Rallies in support of the Salvadoran troops were reported on Friday, 6 November, including in Port-au-Prince, with crowd estimates ranging from hundreds to thousands.
A drone strike hit a vehicle in Cité-Soleil, a Port-au-Prince district, on the night of Thursday, 5 November, and Haiti’s prime minister, Alix Didier Fils-Aimé, welcomed the loss of a gang leader. Local media identified the dead man as Mathias Sainthil, leader of the Boston gang; the government had not named him in the reports we read.
Explosive Drones Kill Two Soldiers, Truck Bomb Hits Tolima
Colombia’s Army says two professional soldiers died and five were hurt in repeated explosive-drone attacks on troops of a land-operations battalion in rural San José del Palmar, in the western department of Chocó. The attacks ran from Saturday, 31 October into the early hours of Sunday, 1 November, and the Army reported them on 2 November.
The Army attributes the attacks to the ELN and called them a violation of human rights and of international humanitarian law. Reports mention Air Force flights that helped evacuate the wounded.
On the night of Sunday, 1 November, a truck bomb and drones hit the area near a military base in Planadas, in Tolima department, killing four people, including a two-month-old baby, and injuring more than a dozen, according to local reports. Reports point to FARC dissidents, a splinter of the former FARC guerrillas, as the main suspects; responsibility has not been formally confirmed.
Southern Vanguard, the joint exercise with US soldiers at the Tolemaida military base in central Colombia, is scheduled to run until Wednesday, 11 November, according to Colombia’s Defence Ministry.
No New Boat Strike Found, Court Case Unresolved
We found no new US Southern Command announcement of a boat strike for 1–7 November. The last one we have confirmed was on Tuesday, 27 October, in the Eastern Pacific, when five people were killed.
Relatives of two Trinidadian men killed in a strike on 14 October 2025 filed what was described as the first federal wrongful-death suit over the campaign, on 27 January 2026, in a Massachusetts federal court. We found no ruling in that case.
What to Watch Next
7–30 days
What Is Not Known
as of 7 November
Who carried out the 30 October strike in Apure is not established: accounts say the US acted alone, that Venezuela acted with US support, and that Venezuela acted without knowing of a US role. The death toll of 23 comes from one human-rights group and has no official confirmation.
The identity of the gang leader killed in Cité-Soleil comes from local media, not from the government, and the total Salvadoran force in Haiti has not been published. The scope of the new US sanctions on Cuba, including how many firms were named, is reported inconsistently.
We found no verified defence news for Brazil, Argentina, Mexico or Ecuador for 1–7 November, and nothing verified on Paraguay’s security situation this week, so this edition leaves them out. Several official sites were not reachable from our servers, so some statements are given as quoted in reports and marked as such.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened to Venezuela’s Apure state on 30 October?
A strike on a camp of the ELN, a Colombian guerrilla group, killed at least 23 people, according to FundaRedes, a Venezuelan human-rights group. Neither Caracas nor Washington had officially confirmed the operation in the reports we read by 6 November.
Did US forces take part in the Apure strike?
Four unnamed US officials told a major US newspaper that Washington supplied intelligence and drones. FundaRedes says the United States acted alone, and a Venezuelan officer is quoted as saying the Venezuelan armed forces carried it out, so the account is disputed.
What is Cuba’s Moncada 2026 exercise?
Moncada 2026 is a national defence drill that Cuba’s National Defence Council, the state body that directs national defence, announced for Wednesday 4 and Thursday 5 November. It was followed by National Defence Day on Friday 6 November.
Were there new US boat strikes this week?
We found no new announcement from US Southern Command, the US military’s command for the region, for 1–7 November. The last strike we have confirmed was on 27 October in the Eastern Pacific, when five people were killed.
Sources: Colombia’s Army (statement on the Chocó attacks, 2 November); local authorities in Tolima (Planadas, 2–3 November, as reported) and Ministry of Defense; Cuba’s National Defence Council (Moncada 2026 announcement, 4 November); US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (announcement of 5 November, as reported); Cuban President Díaz-Canel (post on X, 7 November); US Navy (photo release 261104-N-JB475-1026, 4 November); Haiti’s prime minister (statement, 6 November, as reported); FundaRedes (Apure, 5–6 November); US Southern Command (27 October strike announcement); Massachusetts federal court filing (27 January 2026, as reported). Statements were read as quoted in national and wire reports on 7 November where official sites were unreachable.
Background: What Is Happening in Haiti?. More from Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia and Haiti.
Previous edition: October 24–31, 2026. All editions: Defense Monitor.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated AI newsroom. Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Publisher and Editor-in-Chief. How we use AI · Report an error