The decision comes as the United States has struck at least 10 known drug-smuggling vessels in the region.
The Pentagon on Friday announced the deployment of an aircraft carrier to Latin America to target drug trafficking organizations, marking a significant U.S. military buildup in the Latin American region.
Secretary of Defense Pete Hesgeth directed the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and its strike group to the area of responsibility in order 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 spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement.
“These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle” transnational criminal organizations, known as TCOs, according to Parnell.
The USS Ford carrier strike group has been deployed to the Mediterranean Sea, meaning it would take multiple days for the ships to sail near South America or the Caribbean, where the Southern Command area of responsibility encompasses. Parnell did not say exactly where the carrier would be located in the region.
Several weeks ago, the carrier took part in NATO exercises in the North Sea amid heightened tension with Russia over the war in Ukraine.
Earlier Friday, Hegseth said the U.S. military conducted its 10th strike on a suspected drug-running boat, saying that the Tren de Aragua gang was operating the vessel. The strike left six people dead in the Caribbean Sea, he added.
In a social media post, Hegseth said the strike occurred overnight, and it marks the second time the Trump administration has tied one of its military operations to the Venezuelan gang. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that labeled Tren de Aragua, MS-13, and Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, allowing for the U.S. military to get more involved in actions against the groups.
Two of the most recent military strikes on suspected drug boats were carried out in the eastern Pacific Ocean, expanding the area where the military has launched attacks and shifting to where much of the cocaine from the world’s largest producers is smuggled.
