US to escalate military presence in South America with aircraft carrier group

By Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart

WASHINGTON (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.   

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly alleged that the U.S. is hoping to drive him from power. 

On Thursday, Maduro warned that if the U.S. ever intervened in the country, "the working class would rise and a general insurrectional strike would be declared in the streets until power is regained," adding that "millions of men and women with rifles would march across the country."

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.

Tensions between the United States and Venezuela's neighbor, Colombia, have also spiked in recent days, with Trump accusing Colombian President Gustavo Petro of being an "illegal drug leader" and a "bad guy" - language Petro's government says is offensive.

"These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle (transnational criminal organizations)," Parnell said.

Trump has authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to conduct covert operations in Venezuela.

Just hours after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the carrier deployment, the Trump administration announced that it was imposing sanctions on Petro, citing alleged illicit drugs.

INCREASING MILITARY BUILDUP

Trump has said that his Republican administration plans to brief the U.S. Congress on operations against drug cartels and that even though he did not need a declaration of war, operations against cartels on land would be next. 

On Friday, Hegseth announced that the latest strike against an alleged drug vessel killed six suspected "narco-terrorists" in the Caribbean.

The strikes have raised alarms among some legal experts and Democratic lawmakers, who question whether they adhere to the laws of war.

Some Republican lawmakers cheered the carrier deployment.

"President Trump is not messing around when it comes to protecting the U.S. and our Western Hemisphere neighborhood," U.S. Representative Rick Crawford of Arkansas posted on X.

Last week, Reuters was first to report that two alleged drug traffickers survived a U.S. military strike in the Caribbean. They were rescued and taken to a U.S. Navy warship before being repatriated to their home countries of Colombia and Ecuador.

With only 11 aircraft carriers in the U.S. military's arsenal, they are a scarce resource and their schedules are usually set well in advance. 

Last year, the USS George Washington deployed to South America, but that was scheduled well in advance and was part of an exercise. 

The Ford 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, a medium-range, surface-to-air missile used to counter drones and aircraft.

The Ford also includes sophisticated radars that can help control air traffic and navigation.

The supporting ships, such as the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser Normandy, Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers Thomas Hudner, Ramage, Carney, and Roosevelt, include surface-to-air, surface-to-surface, and anti-submarine warfare capabilities.

(Reporting by Idrees Ali and Phil Stewart; Editing by Franklin Paul and Howard Goller)