The U.S. is sending a floating fortress to South America’s doorstep in a bold move that’s got everyone from drug cartels to foreign leaders sweating, as AP News reports.
The Trump administration has unleashed a significant military escalation by deploying the USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group to the waters off South America, aiming to crush drug trafficking while sparking whispers of deeper geopolitical motives.
This powerhouse carrier, currently docked in Croatia on the Adriatic Sea, will join a fleet that could swell to nearly 4,500 additional sailors and nine aircraft squadrons.
Already, over 6,000 sailors and Marines are stationed on eight warships in the Caribbean and near Venezuela, and this new deployment under U.S. Southern Command signals a no-nonsense approach to disrupting illicit activities.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has made it crystal clear that the mission is to detect and dismantle networks compromising American safety, and the recent uptick in strikes—10 since early September, with three this week alone—proves the U.S. isn’t playing games.
Just overnight, a strike on a boat linked to the Tren de Aragua gang, a group labeled a foreign terrorist organization by the administration, left six dead, adding to a grim tally of at least 43 since these operations kicked off.
The operational zone has widened to the eastern Pacific, a hotbed for cocaine smuggling from producers like Colombia, showing the U.S. is casting a wider net to choke off drug routes.
Adding fuel to the fire, the administration slapped sanctions on Colombian President Gustavo Petro and his inner circle for alleged ties to the global drug trade. That's a move that’s sure to ruffle diplomatic feathers.
President Trump has gone so far as to declare drug cartels “unlawful combatants,” invoking legal powers akin to those used post-9/11, framing this as nothing less than an armed conflict.
Meanwhile, tensions with Venezuela are spiking, as four of the targeted boats reportedly hailed from there, and U.S. supersonic bombers buzzed their coast just a day before the latest strike.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro is crying foul, claiming these moves are a thinly veiled attempt to oust him, while praising his forces for coastal defense drills spanning over 1,200 miles.
“In the span of six hours, 100% of all the country’s coastline was covered in real time, with all the equipment and heavy weapons to defend all of Venezuela’s coasts if necessary,” Maduro boasted, though one wonders if bravado can match American firepower.
Back home, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle are raising eyebrows over the lack of Congressional oversight, worrying about mission creep and whether this could spiral into a long-term entanglement.
“If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you like we treat Al-Qaeda. Day or NIGHT, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you,” declared Hegseth, a statement that’s as chilling as it is resolute. Though it begs the question of where the line is drawn.
To top it all off, Tropical Storm Melissa looms in the central Caribbean, potentially intensifying into a hurricane, which could throw a wrench into naval operations and test the mettle of this beefed-up fleet.
