US sends carrier group to S. America as Venezuela tensions rise

Deployment marks significant escalation in Trump’s war on drug traffickers in the region

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a US military buildup in the Caribbean on Oct 24 by deploying the Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier group to Latin America, a show of force that far exceeds any past counter-narcotics need and represents Washington’s most muscular move yet in the region.

The deployment, which adds to the eight warships, a nuclear submarine and F-35 aircraft already in the region, marks a significant escalation amid heightened tensions with Venezuela, whose government Washington has long accused of harbouring drug traffickers and undermining democratic institutions.

“The enhanced US force presence in the USSOUTHCOM AOR (area of responsibility) will bolster US capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere,’ Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell posted on X.

He did not specify when the carrier would be moving to the region, but as at a few days ago, the carrier was travelling via the Strait of Gibraltar and in Europe.

The Ford, which was commissioned in 2017, is the US’ newest aircraft carrier and the world’s largest, with more than 5,000 sailors on board.

Mr Parnell said: “These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle (transnational criminal organisations).”