The United States government announced that Secretary of War (rebranded from US Defense Secretary) Pete Hegseth will travel on Wednesday, 26 November 2025 to Santo Domingo. The official advisory from the renamed Ministry of Defense says that meetings are scheduled with President Luis Abinader, Minister of Defense Lt. Gen. Carlos Antonio Fernández Onofre and cabinet officials “to strengthen defense relationships and reaffirm America’s commitment to defend the homeland, protect our regional partners and ensure stability and security across the Americas.”
The visit is at a time when the United States has ramped up the pressure against Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, including positioning warships and forces in the Caribbean Sea. The US government accuses Maduro of heading a drug cartel. The visit coincides with international airlines canceling flights to Venezuelan airports.
The trip comes a day after Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair General Dan Caine was in Trinidad and Tobago to meet with the country’s prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, and members of her cabinet.
President Luis Abinader had announced the visit of Hegseth during his Monday, 24 November 2025 press conference.
Diario Libre in its reporting on the Hegseth visit stated:
“The visit of United States Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth to the Dominican Republic is set to mark a high point on the bilateral agenda, not only given the current geopolitical moment in the Caribbean but also due to the official’s own unusual personality and profile. His presence in Santo Domingo is, in itself, a significant political signal: Washington aims to strengthen regional security cooperation with an ally considered stable and reliable amid growing tensions.
“Hegseth stands out as an atypical Defense Secretary. He ascended to the position following a narrow confirmation in the Senate, decided by the tie-breaking vote of Vice President J. D. Vance, and carries a history that separates him from Pentagon chiefs of recent decades. He does not hail from the military hierarchy or the top civilian echelons of the Department of Defense. His trajectory, more media-centric than institutional, was forged as a Fox News commentator and a fervent voice within the conservative movement that propelled Donald Trump to the Presidency.
“His affinity with Donald Trump is direct: Hegseth shares the former president’s combative rhetoric, his frontal critique of what both term the “Pentagon bureaucracy,” and his orientation toward a defense policy that is more aggressive, transactional, and less constrained by traditional consensus. Before his appointment, Hegseth was a visible ally of cultural Trumpism, questioning “excessive political correctness” within the Armed Forces and advocating for an almost muscular view of American power. This alignment was key to his selection, as Trump sought a loyal Secretary prepared to execute, without hesitation, a foreign doctrine that combines military pressure, selective withdrawal, and strategic forcefulness.”
Diario Libre in another feature, remarks on the differences in style and performance between US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth and the US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who also visited the Dominican Republic this year.
Read more:
US Department of War
The Hill
France 24
Diario Libre
Diario Libre
26 November 2025