The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group will bring its firepower to the region, amid a growing campaign of lethal U.S. strikes on suspected drug boats.
The Pentagon has ordered the Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group to sail for Latin America to assist in battling drug trafficking in the region, it announced on Oct. 24.
“In support of the President’s directive to dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) and counter narco-terrorism in defense of the Homeland, the Secretary of War has directed the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group and embarked carrier air wing to the U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) area of responsibility (AOR),” Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement on Oct. 24.
The deployment will bring a powerful array of U.S. firepower to the region at a moment of high tensions between the United States and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Here is what to know about the carrier deployment.
Current Force Buildup
The Ford strike group is headed toward the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility, an area covering South America, the Caribbean, and all of Central America save for Mexico.
U.S. forces have already been massing in the area for weeks. Those forces include three guided missile destroyers, a guided missile cruiser, a fast-attack submarine, and a littoral combat ship.
Also in the area is an amphibious ready group, consisting of two transport dock ships and an assault ship. The group, which is carrying the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, is capable of launching helicopters and AV-8B Harrier jump jets.
Adding to the force buildup are 10 F-35B Lightning II stealth fighters and a number of Air Force MQ-9 Reaper drones and AC-130J Ghostrider gunships.
Boat Strikes, Rising Tension With Maduro
The U.S. forces currently amassed in the SOUTHCOM area have already turned some of their firepower on drug runners sailing through the region.
Since September, U.S. forces have conducted at least 10 lethal strikes on vessels. The majority of these strikes have occurred in the Caribbean Sea, while two have occurred in the waters of the East Pacific.
In the months since President Donald Trump took office, the U.S. State Department has designated 13 different Latin American and Caribbean cartels and criminal organizations as foreign terrorist organizations. Earlier in October, the administration notified Congress that U.S. forces are engaged in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels, which the administration has referred to as “unlawful combatants.”
Announcing the first of these recent strikes on suspected drug boats on Sept. 2, Trump described the targeted vessel as one operated by members of Tren de Aragua, which the State Department designated as a foreign terrorist organization in February. In a Truth Social post, Trump said this group is “operating under the control of Nicolas Maduro.”
The current U.S. force buildup in the SOUTHCOM area began in August, just days after the U.S. Department of Justice raised the reward for information leading to Maduro’s arrest to $50 million. The United States has charged Maduro with drug trafficking, an allegation the Venezuelan leader denies.
Trump made the standoff with Maduro more explicit this month, as he confirmed reports that he had authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations within Venezuela.
On Oct. 15, Air Force B-52H Stratofortress strategic heavy bombers flew south from the United States to conduct a “bomber attack demonstration” over the Caribbean Sea.
Trump has also raised the prospect of U.S. forces moving on from striking boats at sea to attacking land-based targets in the region.
“You know, the land is going to be next, and we may go to the Senate, we may go to the Congress, and tell them about it,“ Trump said during a White House news conference on Oct. 23. ”But I can’t imagine they’d have any problem with it.”
Moments later in that same White House news conference, Trump said he may not seek a formal declaration of war as he looks ahead to striking land-based targets.
“I don’t think we’re going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war,” he said. “I think we are just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. OK? We’re going to kill them.”
Tensions are also rising between Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro.
In an Oct. 18 social media post, Petro accused U.S. forces of killing an innocent fisherman in a September strike at sea. Trump subsequently called Petro an “illegal drug leader” and announced that the United States would cut subsidies to Colombia and raise tariffs against the South American country, which borders Venezuela.
“President Gustavo Petro, of Colombia, is an illegal drug leader strongly encouraging the massive production of drugs, in big and small fields, all over Colombia,” Trump wrote on social media. “It has become the biggest business in Colombia, by far, and Petro does nothing to stop it, despite large-scale payments and subsidies from the USA that are nothing more than a long term rip off of America.”
More Firepower on Way
Deploying the Ford strike group brings an array of additional strike capabilities to the SOUTHCOM area.
The group’s complement of aircraft includes three squadrons of F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter jets and a squadron of E/A-18G Growler electronic attack aircraft designed for jamming and destroying enemy radar and communications systems. This air wing also includes command and control aircraft and helicopters equipped for antisubmarine and anti-surface warfare.
Escorting the aircraft carrier is a squadron of between three and five guided-missile destroyers.
“These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle TCOs,” Parnell said on Oct. 24.
Maduro Criticizes Deployment
Maduro expressed renewed alarm about a direct conflict between Venezuela and the United States, following the announcement of the deployment of the Ford strike group.
In a national broadcast on the night of Oct. 24, the Venezuelan leader said Trump was “fabricating a new eternal war.”
“Venezuela is a country that does not produce cocaine leaves,” Maduro said.
The Venezuelan leader has already placed his country’s armed forces and volunteer militias on a heightened state of alert since U.S. military assets began gathering in the Caribbean in August. A pair of Venezuelan military aircraft also flew over U.S. warships in September.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
By Ryan Morgan
