The US military will deploy its most advanced aircraft carrier to the Caribbean, it said Friday, sharply escalating Washington’s pressure campaign against Venezuelan drug cartels.
The Pentagon’s announcement came hours after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth said the US had struck a 10th “narco-terrorist” vessel overnight, bringing the total death toll from Washington’s recent strikes to at least 43.
Amid a major military buildup in the region, the USS Gerald R Ford and its strike group will deploy to the Caribbean to “bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States,” a Pentagon spokesperson posted on X.
The strikes have spiked tensions with Caracas and sparked speculation the US may be seeking regime change. President Nicolás Maduro on Thursday appealed for calm, warning the US against a “crazy war.”
A source close to the White House told Semafor earlier in the week that President Donald Trump would coordinate with Congress — which has not approved the strikes — “when Maduro’s corpse is in US custody.”