United States territory in the Caribbean, seized from Spain in 1898. The US has maintained a military presence on the island since then.
Roosevelt Roads, a US naval base on the eastern end of the main island near the town of Ceiba, was shut down in 2004. In the 1990s it served as a launch-point for operations in Haiti. The base is being revived as part of a major military build-up in the Caribbean that began in late 2025. Puerto Rico provides support to F-35B fighters, AC-130 gunships and MQ-9 "Reaper" drones operating alongside destroyers, cruisers and the aircraft-carrier USS Gerald R. Ford. Caracas, Venezuela's capital, lies about 800km to the south.
In June 2025, before the build-up, the United States had 2,400 active-duty troops stationed across all of Latin America and the Caribbean (including Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands), no permanently assigned Navy vessels and only a handful of aircraft. By December 2025, on Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands alone there were scores of aircraft, tens of ships offshore, and some 15,000 troops.
Land on Vieques, an island off Ceiba, remains contaminated after decades of military training exercises.
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