The US has sent its biggest and most advanced aircraft carrier into the Caribbean Sea amid mounting speculation Donald Trump is preparing to unleash the might of America’s armed forces on Venezuela in his war on drug gangs.
The 1106-ft USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group, complete with the USS Thomas Hudner, USS Rampage, and USS Normandy, join an already formidable US deployment in the region as the President mulls whether to launch strikes on cartel bases in the South American nation.
Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly begged for peace in recent days. But Trump is intent on crushing what he calls ‘narco terrorists’ and ending the flow of cocaine and other drugs into America.
US forces have already carried out a wave of deadly strikes on small boats suspected of being linked to drug trafficking, with the latest coming on Saturday.
Trump’s defence secretary, Pete Hegseth, is reported to have presented the President with options for military operations in Venezuela, including strikes on land.
It comes after Trump’s insistence that he is not planning a land invasion, despite the deployment in the region of nearly a dozen Navy ships and about 12,000 sailors and Marines.
The Gerald R. Ford, which sailed from Europe, is equipped with some four fighter squadrons of multirole F/A-18 Super Hornets along with another unit of EA-18 Growler electronic attack aircraft, which specialises in jamming and destroying enemy radar sites.
Those would be important assets if Trump orders strikes in Venezuela, including on its air defences.
The recent development adds to 10 U.S. Marine Corps F-35s stationed in Puerto Rico, along with AV-8 Harrier jump jets and AH-1 attack helicopters aboard the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima, which is also in the region.
The world’s largest aircraft carrier rounds off the biggest buildup of U.S. firepower in the region in generations.
The former US ambassador to Venezuela, James Story, has now warned that the likelihood of military action against Venezuela has risen from 10 per cent in recent months to 80.
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