Politics
NEW: Navy’s Largest Aircraft Carrier Deploys To Caribbean Amid Venezuela Tensions
A U.S. naval strike group spearheaded by the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier, the largest warship in the world, arrived in the Latin American region on Tuesday, according to the War Department. The move comes amid enhanced tensions between the United States and Venezuela, while President Donald Trump has refused to rule out direct military force in opposing Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro’s regime.
The USS Gerald Ford, carrying more than 4,000 sailors and dozens of tactical aircraft, entered the Southcom area of responsibility after being directed by the War Department to depart from the Mediterranean in late October. Officials have stated that the vessel is in the region in order to provide support for ongoing U.S. military strikes on drug-trafficking vessels linked to the Venezuelan government’s smuggling operations and other groups designated as terrorist organizations in the Caribbean and Pacific coast areas.
“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,” chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement on Tuesday.
“These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations,” Parnell added.
The Ford, whose escorts in the area include the USS Bainbridge, USS Mahan and USS Winston Churchill, will be on-hand to assist operations in the region after the Pentagon already deployed eight warships, F-35 fighter jets and at least one nuclear-powered submarine in the Caribbean, The Hill reported.
In a recent interview with “60 Minutes,” President Trump indicated that regime change is on the table in Venezuela due to Maduro’s links with drug-trafficking organizations and the flood of illegal aliens to the United States. The U.S. has already conducted at least 17 strikes on drug-trafficking vessels linked to narco-terrorist organizations like Tren de Aragua and allied groups in Colombia, killing at least 76 people.
The U.S. government has long contended that Maduro is heavily involved in international cocaine trafficking and other criminal enterprises to keep his regime afloat. “Maduro uses foreign terrorist organizations like [Tren de Aragua], Sinaloa and Cartel of the Suns to bring deadly drugs and violence into our country,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a video statement back in August.
To date, the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) has seized 30 tons of cocaine linked to Maduro and his associates, Bondi said. This figure includes“nearly seven tons linked to Maduro himself, which represents a primary source of income for the deadly cartels based in Venezuela and Mexico,” the attorney general added.
She further noted that cocaine linked with Maduro’s smuggling operations is often laced with fentanyl, which has resulted in “the loss and destruction of countless American lives.”
In March 2020, Maduro was hit with a slew of federal charges in the Southern District of New York related to his drug trafficking operations, including narco-terrorism, conspiracy to import cocaine, possession of machine guns and destructive devices, and conspiracy to possess machine guns and destructive devices. At the time, the Trump Administration was offering a $15 million reward for any information relating to Maduro’s capture.
Maduro’s regime has also been directly linked with the infiltration of the ultra-violent Tren de Aragua street gang in the United States. President Trump formally designated the gang as a terrorist organization back in February, citing infiltration of Venezuela’s security agencies, as well as support for the gang from Maduro’s regime.
“TdA operates in conjunction with Cártel de los Soles, the Nicolas Maduro regime-sponsored, narco-terrorism enterprise based in Venezuela, and commits brutal crimes, including murders, kidnappings, extortions, and human, drug, and weapons trafficking. TdA has engaged in and continues to engage in mass illegal migration to the United States to further its objectives of harming United States citizens, undermining public safety, and supporting the Maduro regime’s goal of destabilizing democratic nations in the Americas, including the United States,” Trump wrote in his declaration.
The president further noted that Tren de Aragua has infiltrated top law enforcement and state security agencies in Venezuela. He specifically pointed to Tareck El Aissami, the current vice president of Venezuela, who previously served as governor of Aragua. During his tenure from 2012 through 2017, the group rapidly expanded in size and influence.
The Biden-led State Department increased the bounty to $25 million on January 10, which the Trump Administration doubled on Thursday.
“The DOJ has seized over $700 million of Maduro linked assets, including two private jets, nine vehicles and more. Yet Maduro’s reign of terror continues,” Bondi said. “He is one of the largest narco traffickers in the world, and a threat to our national security,” she continued, adding that “under President Trump’s leadership, Maduro will not escape justice, and he will be held accountable for his despicable crimes.”
