The United States has sent the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group to the South American region to help disrupt narcotics trafficking, Pentagon officials said. The deployment will support U.S. Southern Command efforts to detect, monitor and interdict transnational criminal organizations that move drugs toward the United States.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the carrier strike group will augment regional capabilities to disrupt illicit activity and degrade trafficking networks. The Gerald R. Ford is traveling with a carrier air wing, a cruiser and destroyers and will join other U.S. ships already operating in the area.
The move comes as the administration continues strikes against boats in the Caribbean it says were linked to drug trafficking, and after President Trump suggested the U.S. may target cartel operations on land next. The president said maritime routes have been constrained by recent actions and indicated a shift in focus to overland smuggling routes.
Administration officials characterize the operations as part of a campaign to stop drugs reaching U.S. communities; critics and some lawmakers have called for greater congressional oversight and legal review of the military’s use of force in the region. Several senators, including Mike Rounds, Thom Tillis, Todd Young, and Susan Collins, have urged closer consultation between the executive and legislative branches. Other senators, like Rand Paul and Lisa Murkowski, opposed the recent strikes and supported measures to limit them.
U.S.-Venezuela tensions have increased as many of the maritime strikes have occurred in waters near Venezuela, and Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has condemned the actions as attacks on civilians. The administration says the strikes are based on intelligence identifying the vessels as narcotics threats and emphasizes the goal of protecting the homeland from deadly drug flows.
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