WASHINGTON (Reuters) -President Donald Trump dramatically escalated a U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean on Friday by deploying the Gerald 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 Latin America region.
"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," Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell posted on X.
He did not specify when the carrier would be moving to the region, but as of a few days ago, the carrier was traveling via the Strait of Gibraltar and in Europe.
The deployment is part of Trump's military buildup in the Caribbean, which includes eight additional warships, a nuclear submarine and F-35 aircraft. It is likely to raise concern in the region about the Trump administration's intent.
The U.S. military has carried out 10 strikes against alleged drug vessels, mostly in the Caribbean, since early September, killing about 40 people. While the Pentagon has not given much information, it has said some of those killed are Venezuelan.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly alleged that the U.S. is hoping to drive him from power.
Washington in August doubled its reward for information leading to Maduro's arrest to $50 million, accusing him of links to drug trafficking and criminal groups that Maduro denies.
The assembly of military firepower far outstrips any imaginable requirement by the U.S. military to strike individual drug targets on land or at sea.
The Ford, which was commissioned in 2017, is the United States' newest aircraft carrier and the world's largest, with more than 5,000 sailors aboard.
The carrier, which includes a nuclear reactor, can hold more than 75 military aircraft, including fighter aircraft like the F-18 Super Hornet jets and the E-2 Hawkeye, which can act as an early warning system.
It has an arsenal of missiles, like the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile, which are medium-range, surface-to-air missiles used to counter drones and aircraft.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart, Editing by Franklin Paul and Howard Goller)
