https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/us-military-deploy-aircraft-carrier-south-america-amid-soaring-tensions-with-2025-10-24/Deployment adds to warships, fighter aircraft already in regionMove follows recent U.S. strikes on alleged drug vesselsMaduro warns of insurrection if U.S. intervenes in VenezuelaSanctions imposed on Colombian President Petro amid tensionsWASHINGTON, Oct 24 (Reuters) - President Donald Trump’s administration escalated a U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean on Friday by announcing the deployment of the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier group to Latin America — a show of force far beyond any past counter-narcotics effort and Washington’s most assertive move in the region yet.The deployment, which adds to the eight warships, a nuclear submarine and F-35 aircraft already in the region, marks a significant escalation amid heightened tensions with Venezuela, whose government Washington has long accused of harboring drug traffickers and undermining democratic institutions."The enhanced U.S. force presence in the USSOUTHCOM AOR will bolster U.S. capacity 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 spokesperson Sean Parnell posted on X.He did not specify when the carrier would be moving to the region, but as of a few days ago, the carrier was traveling via the Strait of Gibraltar and in Europe.The Ford, which was commissioned in 2017, is the United States' newest aircraft carrier and the world's largest, with more than 5,000 sailors aboard.The U.S. military has carried out 10 strikes against alleged drug vessels, mostly in the Caribbean, since early September, killing about 40 people. While the Pentagon has not given much information, it has said some of those killed were Venezuelan.
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly alleged that the U.S. is hoping to drive him from power.On Thursday, Maduro warned that if the U.S. ever intervened in the country, "the working class would rise and a general insurrectional strike would be declared in the streets until power is regained," adding that "millions of men and women with rifles would march across the country."Washington in August doubled its reward for information leading to Maduro's arrest to $50 million, accusing him of links to drug trafficking and criminal groups that Maduro denies.Tensions between the United States and Venezuela's neighbor, Colombia, have also spiked in recent days, with Trump accusing Colombian President Gustavo Petro of being an "illegal drug leader" and a "bad guy" - language Petro's government says is offensive."These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle (transnational criminal organizations)," Parnell said.Trump has authorized the Central Intelligence Agency to conduct covert operations in Venezuela.Just hours after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the carrier deployment, the Trump administration announced that it was imposing sanctions on Petro, citing alleged illicit drugs.INCREASING MILITARY BUILDUPTrump has said that his Republican administration plans to brief the U.S. Congress on operations against drug cartels and that even though he did not need a declaration of war, operations against cartels on land would be next.On Friday, Hegseth announced that the latest strike against an alleged drug vessel killed six suspected "narco-terrorists" in the Caribbean.The strikes have raised alarms among some legal experts and Democratic lawmakers, who question whether they adhere to the laws of war.Some Republican lawmakers cheered the carrier deployment.
I'm glad Trump's combating the Biden Fentanyl Epidemic, although I could see why this makes Democrats angry
"President Trump is not messing around when it comes to protecting the U.S. and our Western Hemisphere neighborhood," U.S. Representative Rick Crawford of Arkansas posted on X.Last week, Reuters was first to report that two alleged drug traffickers survived a U.S. military strike in the Caribbean. They were rescued and taken to a U.S. Navy warship before being repatriated to their home countries of Colombia and Ecuador.With only 11 aircraft carriers in the U.S. military's arsenal, they are a scarce resource and their schedules are usually set well in advance.Last year, the USS George Washington deployed to South America, but that was scheduled well in advance and was part of an exercise.The Ford carrier, which includes a nuclear reactor, can hold more than 75 military aircraft, including fighter aircraft like the F-18 Super Hornet jets and the E-2 Hawkeye, which can act as an early warning system.It has an arsenal of missiles, like the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile, a medium-range, surface-to-air missile used to counter drones and aircraft.The Ford also includes sophisticated radars that can help control air traffic and navigation.The supporting ships, such as the Ticonderoga-class guided missile cruiser Normandy, Arleigh Burke-class guided missile destroyers Thomas Hudner, Ramage, Carney, and Roosevelt, include surface-to-air, surface-to-surface, and anti-submarine warfare capabilities.
say, donny ol' buddy, dont worry about getting into heaven, it's great down here. The 3000 yr old demons dress up like school girls and if you put a mask on them to cover the wrinkles their legs look great in fishnet stockings!
>>1451638Now the left believes in the Christian afterlife?
>>1451619>I'm glad the guy who ran on being the "anti-war president" is actually the most pro-war president in the last 40 yearsRepublican hypocrisy knows no bounds.
>>1451724>everything I don't like is leftistkek
>>1451619>Fentanyl >VenezuelaGod, you people are stupid.
>>1451737I'm sorry, I'm not too keen on what countries you people get your drugs from. What drugs does Venezuela generally export to the US? Cocaine?
>>1451739You should've just left it at "i'm not too keen"
>>1451739Fent is from China and Canada, cocaine is from Venezuela.
>>1451741>Fent is from China and CanadaAnd definitely Mexico too, aren't they running like giant fentanyl labs? I'm fairly certain there's no fentanyl coming from China, China sells the precursors to countries like Mexico
>>1451739Fentanyl is only produced in mexico and china you fucking retard. The chemicals required come pretty much exclusively from China, and the mexican cartels are so protective of their exclusivity over it they'd annihilate anyone who tried to get in on their market.
>>1451741The US produces more fent than Canada ever could.
>>1451742China is doing some opium wars shit by selling the precursors to fentanyl to Canada and Mexico.Cocaine is specific to venezuela because it comes from processing a tree that grows in south america IIRC.I dunno, I'm not a druglord, just a gay unemployed neet shitposting on 4chins
>>1451745Imagine defending china, goddamn
>>1451750China and Mexico obviously produce the vast majority. I'm just pointing out that Canada produces so little it's barely even worth considering a minor source; much more comes into Canada from the US than vice versa.
>>1451751Majority of Canadian fentanyl comes from China (albeit usually a slightly different analog which is typical) or Mexico. While the US Canadian border to the casual would seem like an easy choice for most drug trafficking (it is in a sense) they fail to consider the need for the drug to be transported all the way through the continental US which can be done but greatly increases the risk of being intercepted. In reality Canadian narcotics that aren’t made domestically largely come in (in order from most to least used) via port, air (commercial air travel), then on a much smaller scale usually direct to consumer the mail. There is little benefit to transporting via land from the United States. It also goes against the cartels M.O. of limiting their direct exposure north of the US Mexican border
>>1451751It also increases the price ten fold. And what I mean by limiting the exposure of the cartels north of the Mexican border is since the late 90s (really when extradition became a thing) the actual cartels (Sinaloa, new Jalisco generation etc.) rarely actually venture north and set up shop. What happens is they will get the narcotics to or across the border then via a 3rd party (usually with loose ties) like the Mexican mafia, tren de aragua just to name a few (they don’t really care as long as they are paid) they will distribute the narcotics throughout the country as most people would imagine
war president
>>1451750It isn't China's fault that Trump is fucking insane.
>>1451724>the leftIt's so tiring reading Americans treat political ideologies like monoliths.Being left leaning isn't incompatible with being a Christian, you know?
Damn more postering by Tump?At least the whole thing about Iraq having WMDs was kinda believable, this shit about Cocaine smuggling being equated to terrorism is just ridiculous
>>1452432It is when the zeitgeist of leftism is to be literal demons.
>>1451617>Third world shithole fucks around>Third world shithole finds outI don't see a problem here. Why would Venezuela be waving their dicks around on the world stage if they can't follow through? Bitching about it won't help them.
>>1451617>NNNNNOOOO NOT THE HECKING DRUGARIIIINOOOOOS!Libshits find the weirdest hills to die on, I swear.
