Hulking U.S. aircraft carrier arrives in Caribbean

The show of military might comes as Trump continues to threaten Venezuela’s leader.

- By BEN FINLEY

THE TRUMP administration says the arrival of the Gerald R. Ford, seen last month, marks a major moment in an antidrug operation.

(ALYSSA JOY U.S. Navy)

The nation’s most advanced aircraft carrier arrived in the Caribbean Sea on Sunday in a display of U.S. military power, raising questions about what the new influx of troops and weaponry could signal for the Trump administration’s drug enforcement campaign in South America.

The arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford, announced bythe U.S. military inanews release, marks a major moment in what the Trump administration says is an an-tidrug operation but has been seen as an escalating pressure tactic against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. Since early September, 20 U.S. strikes have killed at least 80 people accused of transporting drugs on small boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.

The Ford rounds off the largest buildup of U.S. firepower in the region in generations, bringing the total number of troops to around 12,000 on nearly a dozen Navy ships in what Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has dubbed Operation Southern Spear.