Secretary of State�Marco Rubio�will travel to the Caribbean country of St. Kitts and Nevis this week to reassert the Trump administration�s interests in the Western Hemisphere just a month after the U.S. military operation that�removed then-Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro�from power.

With the eyes of much of the world on the U.S military buildup in the Middle East and President Donald Trump�s�threats to attack Iran, Rubio will make a one-day visit to St. Kitts on Wednesday to participate in a summit of leaders from the Caribbean Community, the State Department said.

Rubio has long championed a greater U.S. role in the Western Hemisphere and aims to keep it in focus even as Trump’s Republican administration has now shifted�its top foreign policy priority�to Iran, around which American forces are now massing in even larger numbers than in the run-up to the Jan. 3 Venezuela operation that captured and deposed Maduro.

Maduro has been�accused in a U.S. court�of working with drug cartels to facilitate the shipment of�thousands of tons of cocaine�into the U.S. and has pleaded not guilty.

Trump�s action against Maduro coupled with an increasingly aggressive posture aimed at eliminating drug trafficking and illegal migration have proven a concern for many in the region although they have also won support from some smaller states.

Trump, Rubio and others have likened the administration�s Western Hemisphere strategy to the Monroe Doctrine, with its rejection of outside influences and assertion of U.S. primacy throughout in what they consider to be �America�s backyard.�

Trump has said his ouster of Maduro, military strikes on alleged drug-running vessels in the Caribbean, seizures of sanctioned oil tankers and tightened embargo of Cuba are key parts of a Trump corollary to the 19th-century policy that he refers to as the �Donroe Doctrine.�

In numerous group and bilateral meetings at the CARICOM meeting, Rubio intends to discuss ways to promote regional security and stability, trade and economic growth, the State Department said in a statement on Monday.

“During his visit, the Secretary will reaffirm the United States� commitment to working with CARICOM member states to enhance stability and prosperity in our hemisphere,� it said.

(AP)