The Pentagon’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford, and its strike group arrived in the Latin American region on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Navy, as the Trump administration beefs up its military presence in the U.S. Southern Command (Southcom) area and strikes alleged drug-trafficking boats on both sides of South America.
USS Gerald R. Ford, carrying more than 4,000 sailors and dozens of tactical aircraft, entered the Southcom area of responsibility after being directed by the Department of Defense (DOD) to depart the Mediterranean in late October for what officials argued was assistance in dismantling transnational criminal organizations and curbing drug-smuggling.
“The enhanced U.S. force presence in the USSOUTHCOM AOR will bolster U.S. 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,” chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement on Tuesday.
“These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations,” Parnell added.
The Ford, whose escorts in the area include USS Bainbridge, USS Mahan and USS Winston Churchill, will bolster U.S. firepower in the vicinity of Venezuela as the DOD has already deployed eight warships, F-35 fighter jets and at least one nuclear-powered submarine in the Caribbean.
The tensions between Washington and Venezuela have ramped up as Trump administration officials have called Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro an “illegitimate leader” and associated him with drug-trafficking operations in the region, which he has denied.
In a recent interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes,” President Trump indicated Maduro’s days were numbered. Maduro has argued that the U.S. military buildup in the region is meant to force him out of office.
At the same time, the U.S. military has been taking out alleged drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean Sea and Eastern Pacific, conducting 17 strikes that have killed at least 76 people, who the administration has called “narco-terrorists.”
“Through unwavering commitment and the precise use of our forces, we stand ready to combat the transnational threats that seek to destabilize our region,” Southcom Commander, Adm. Alvin Holsey, who is retiring this year, said in a statement. “The USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group’s deployment represents a critical step in reinforcing our resolve to protect the security of the Western Hemisphere and the safety of the American homeland.”
