The USS Gerald R. Ford is deployed to Caribbean!
New York, US, Nov 11 (EFE).-
The United States has deployed its largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, and its strike group to Latin American waters, the US Navy confirmed Tuesday.
The mission involves more than 4,000 sailors and dozens of tactical aircraft and is part of a broader effort ordered by United States President Donald Trump to target alleged transnational criminal organizations and narcoterrorism.
The Pentagon described the Ford as “the largest aircraft carrier in the world” and said the deployment follows a directive issued by US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
The administration is increasing military operations across the US Southern Command (Southcom) region, including seas on both sides of South America.
“The greater presence of US forces in the US Southern Command’s area of responsibility will reinforce the US’ ability to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit activities and actors that compromise US security and prosperity in the Western Hemisphere,” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement.
Parnell said the additional forces will “enhance and expand existing capabilities to disrupt narcotrafficking and weaken and dismantle transnational criminal organizations.”
The USS Gerald R. Ford is accompanied by the USS Bainbridge, USS Mahan, and USS Winston Churchill.
The deployment increases US naval firepower near Venezuela, where eight US warships, F-35 fighter jets, and at least one nuclear-powered submarine are already operating, according to US defense officials.
US armed forces have conducted 17 maritime operations in the Caribbean Sea and the Eastern Pacific in recent months, targeting vessels suspected of drug trafficking.
At least 76 people have been killed during these operations, whom the US government has labeled “narcoterrorists.”
The Pentagon has not specified how long the carrier strike group will remain in the region, and governments in Latin America have not yet issued public reactions to the deployment. EFE
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