The U.S. Navy has deployed the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to the Caribbean as part of an expanded military presence targeting drug trafficking operations allegedly linked to Venezuela’s government, officials said.
The Ford carrier strike group entered the Caribbean Sea on Nov. 16, bringing the world’s largest aircraft carrier along with multiple destroyers and more than 70 aircraft to U.S. Southern Command’s area of operations, according to Navy statements.
The deployment includes guided-missile destroyers USS Bainbridge and USS Mahan, the USS Winston S. Churchill, Carrier Air Wing Eight with nine embarked squadrons, and at least one nuclear-powered attack submarine, according to Southern Command.
DRUG INTERDICTION MISSION
“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,” a Pentagon spokesman said in a statement.
The military buildup, which began in September with forces assembling near Venezuelan waters, follows the State Department’s designation in November of Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization. The designation names Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro as heading the alleged drug trafficking network.
U.S. forces have conducted at least 22 strikes on suspected smuggling vessels since September, though an Associated Press investigation has questioned whether all targeted boats were connected to Venezuelan drug trafficking operations.
CONTROVERSIAL STRIKES
One strike has drawn particular scrutiny from lawmakers, who have pressed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth for clarification on whether it violated Department of Defense rules on the use of force. The Pentagon has been slow to provide details.
The carrier deployment represents the largest U.S. military presence in the Caribbean in decades, according to analysts tracking Navy movements through the U.S. Naval Institute’s fleet tracker.
The Ford, lead ship of the Navy’s newest class of nuclear-powered supercarriers, brings advanced capabilities including EA-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft, which can disable ground-based air defense systems.
Venezuela operates a limited air force consisting primarily of Russian-built Su-30MK2 fighters and aging F-16 Fighting Falcons. Aviation database FlightGlobal lists only three operational F-16s in Venezuelan service, with spare parts embargoed by the United States since the early 2000s.
The deployment comes amid broader tensions between Washington and Caracas over Venezuela’s disputed 2024 presidential election and ongoing political crisis.
