https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/us-military-deploy-aircraft-carrier-south-america-amid-soaring-tensions-with-2025-10-24/Deployment adds to warships, fighter aircraft already in region
Move follows recent U.S. strikes on alleged drug vessels
Maduro warns of insurrection if U.S. intervenes in Venezuela
Sanctions imposed on Colombian President Petro amid tensions
WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s administration escalated a U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean on Friday by announcing the deployment of the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier group to Latin America — a show of force far beyond any past counter-narcotics effort and Washington’s most assertive move in the region yet.
The deployment, which adds to the eight warships, a nuclear submarine and F-35 aircraft already in the region, marks a significant escalation amid heightened tensions with Venezuela, whose government Washington has long accused of harboring drug traffickers and undermining democratic institutions.
"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 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 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 were Venezuelan.
