As the U.S. builds up forces in the Caribbean, veterans of the last major U.S. intervention in Latin America worry that the 1989 invasion of Panama may have left the U.S. military overconfident.

The U.S. Navy’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, arrived in the South American region near the U.S. Southern Command’s area of operations on the 11th, the U.S. Department of Defense ...