The USS Gerald R Ford will make its way to the coast of Venezuela
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group to the Caribbean to support President Donald Trump’s campaign against “narco-terrorism.”
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said the deployment aims to strengthen the US military’s ability to detect and disrupt criminal networks threatening national security.
Once the carrier leaves the Mediterranean, it will take about a week to reach the region. The move nearly doubles US forces in the area, bringing the total to almost 11,000 sailors and marines.
The deployment follows recent US strikes on alleged drug-smuggling vessels tied to the Tren de Aragua gang, killing several suspects.
Trump has defended the strikes as saving “thousands of American lives,” even as lawmakers from both parties demand transparency on their legality and the intelligence basis.
Hegseth vowed continued operations to “hunt down and destroy” narcotics traffickers.