The Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group, which includes the world’s largest aircraft carrier, has arrived in the Caribbean Sea, joining what has already been the biggest buildup of U.S. forces in the Western Hemisphere in decades.
The U.S. military has carried out a campaign of lethal strikes on purported drug smuggling vessels over the last two months, and its increasing presence and firepower in the region have fueled speculation that it could mount operations on Venezuelan soil.
“The enhanced U.S. force presence in the USSOUTHCOM [area of responsibility] 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 spokesman Sean Parnell said. “These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations.”
There are approximately 4,000 sailors in the carrier strike group, which includes nine embarked squadrons of Carrier Air Wing Eight, Destroyer Squadron Two’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers — USS Bainbridge (DDG 96) and USS Mahan (DDG 72) — and the integrated air and missile defense command ship USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81).
The Ford’s arrival in the region brings the number of warships there to more than a dozen, a dramatic increase from the historic norm of having only one or two Navy vessels there.
U.S. troops have targeted about 20 vessels with lethal strikes since early September, which have resulted in the deaths of about 75 people, whom the Trump administration has deemed “narcoterrorists.”
Military legal experts have raised questions about the legalities of these strikes because the administration has told Congress the U.S. is in an “international armed conflict” to justify the use of lethal force.
Historically, the Coast Guard interdicts vessels it believes are smuggling drugs. They would board the ship, seize any drugs onboard, and arrest those on board, who would be afforded due process.
Experts have said the U.S. has more than enough firepower and manpower in the region to carry out these strikes on purported drug smuggling vessels, indicating to them that there could be a larger plan in mind.
President Donald Trump has publicly confirmed he has approved the CIA to conduct covert operations on Venezuelan soil and has mused about the possibility of military strikes inside Venezuela. The U.S. has not conducted any strikes on Venezuelan soil yet, and it is unclear if it will.
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The U.S. considers Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to be an illegitimate leader. The Justice Department filed narcoterrorism charges against him in 2020.
Trump has said he doubts the U.S. will go to war with Venezuela but affirmed that Maduro’s days as president were numbered.
