The USS Gerald R. Ford, the Navy’s largest and most advanced aircraft carrier, has entered waters near Latin America as part of an expanding U.S. naval deployment in the region. Accompanied by three destroyers, the carrier’s arrival on Tuesday brings the total number of U.S. warships in the area to more than a dozen—an unusually high concentration for a region that typically sees only one or two Navy vessels assisting the Coast Guard in counter-narcotics operations, according to the Washington Post.
The Ford, capable of carrying at least 75 aircraft, is the largest warship in the world, reports Reuters. The carrier strike group adds approximately 5,500 U.S. military personnel to the roughly 10,000 already stationed across the region, including about half in Puerto Rico, per the New York Times. Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the deployment aims to strengthen efforts to “disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle transnational criminal organizations.”
The Ford was redeployed from Europe last month, where it had been operating since June. President Trump has significantly intensified the U.S. counternarcotics campaign in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since September, authorizing 19 targeted strikes that have destroyed small drug-running vessels in recent months.
President Trump has repeatedly criticized Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, accusing him of funneling drugs and criminals toward the United States and suggesting that Maduro’s regime is nearing collapse. Despite mounting speculation about potential U.S. airstrikes inside Venezuela, senior administration officials told lawmakers last week that no such plans are underway and that the U.S. currently lacks a legal basis for direct military action, according to the Post.