The US military's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, led a carrier strike group that arrived on the 11th in the area of responsibility of US Southern Command, deploying in the Caribbean Sea.
Pentagon chief spokesperson Parnell stated in a declaration that deploying the carrier strike group would enhance America’s reconnaissance, surveillance, and strike capabilities in the Western Hemisphere, thereby "combating drug trafficking, weakening and ultimately dismantling transnational criminal organizations."
The statement said that the USS Gerald R. Ford carries more than 4,000 sailors and is equipped with dozens of attack, reconnaissance, and support aircraft, including F/A-18E Super Hornet fighters, E/A-18G Growler electronic warfare aircraft, E-2D Advanced Hawkeye early warning aircraft, MH-60S Seahawk helicopters, and C-2A Greyhound carrier onboard delivery aircraft.
The statement declared that the accompanying three Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers have air defense, anti-submarine, and anti-ship combat capabilities, boasting the Aegis Combat System, vertical launch missile systems, and various large naval guns. Among them, the USS Churchill serves as the integrated air and missile defense command ship, responsible for the carrier strike group's air and ballistic missile defense.
The statement stated that previously, the Pentagon had already deployed the Iwo Jima amphibious ready group and the Marine Expeditionary Unit in this region. With the arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group, the total US military forces massed in the Caribbean region exceed 15,000 personnel, marking the largest deployment in decades.
Last month, President Trump announced that he had authorized the CIA to undertake covert operations in Venezuela, and was considering military strikes on ground targets within Venezuela, though no decision had yet been made.
Since early September, the US military has sunk around 20 so-called "drug trafficking vessels" in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific, resulting in over 70 deaths. The Venezuelan government has repeatedly accused the United States of attempting to instigate regime change through military threats in Venezuela and of conducting military expansion in Latin America.