The Pentagon announced that the Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier is being directed to the Caribbean, marking a major escalation in President Donald Trump’s effort to dismantle drug-smuggling operations and push back against hostile governments in Latin America.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford, currently operating in the Mediterranean, to move into the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility.
The deployment includes dozens of additional fighter jets, surveillance aircraft and warships that typically accompany the carrier, strengthening America’s presence in a region long exploited by transnational criminal organizations.
“In support of the President’s directive to dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) and counter narco-terrorism in defense of the Homeland, the Secretary of War has directed the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group and embarked carrier air wing to the U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) area of responsibility (AOR),” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell wrote in a social media post.
The move signals a willingness by the administration to expand airstrikes beyond the small maritime targets hit so far.
Officials emphasize that the mission aims to destroy drug-trafficking networks and further destabilize the authoritarian government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, whose regime has long relied on illicit smuggling for financial survival.
Even before the carrier’s redirection, U.S. forces were undergoing a significant buildup of combat power in the region. By positioning the USS Gerald R. Ford closer to land-based threats, commanders will be able to conduct air operations more quickly and at a tempo better suited to confronting heavily entrenched narcotics operations.
As the carrier strike group approaches the Caribbean, the Trump administration appears determined to send a message: the United States will confront narco-terrorism and hostile regimes in its own hemisphere with overwhelming strength.
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