U.S. Deploys World’s Largest Warship to Intensify Anti-Drug Operations in the Caribbean

The United States has intensified its campaign against drug trafficking in the Caribbean by deploying the world’s largest warship to the region.

U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford, a state-of-the-art aircraft carrier capable of carrying up to 90 aircraft, to move from the Mediterranean to the waters surrounding Latin America.

This strategic move marks a significant escalation in the nation’s efforts to curb narcotics smuggling routes typically used by transnational criminal organizations.

In recent weeks, the U.S. has further expanded its military presence in the Caribbean by deploying:
✅ Eight additional warships
✅ A nuclear-powered submarine
✅ Advanced F-35 fighter jets

Officials say the expanded naval task force aims to increase surveillance, disrupt trafficking operations, and support international partners in the region.

On Friday, Hegseth claimed that “six male narco-terrorists” had been killed in one of the attacks it has taken out on boats it claims are owned by drug traffickers.

The ship that Hegseth said belonged to the criminal organization Tren de Aragua was the target of that operation, which took place in the Caribbean Sea.

Hegseth shared a video of the strike on X. Before it bursts into a cloud of smoke, it first shows a boat in crosshairs.

The USS Gerald R. Ford carrier will deploy to the US Southern Command area of responsibility, which encompasses the Caribbean, South America, and Central America, according to the Pentagon.

According to spokesman Sean Parnell, the new forces “will expand and supplement existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle TCOs” (transnational criminal organizations).

Three days ago, the ship last made its whereabouts known to the public in the Adriatic Sea, off the coast of Croatia.

The US military buildup in the area has significantly increased with its deployment. Additionally, relations with Venezuela, whose government Washington has long accused of harboring drug traffickers, are expected to rise as a result.

Jets and planes for transport and surveillance may be part of the carrier’s heavy aircraft load. In 2023, it saw its first extended deployment.

The carrier may be part of a strike force that includes destroyers carrying missiles and other equipment, but it is unclear whose ships would follow it when it arrives in the area.

In what President Donald Trump has called an attempt to reduce drug trafficking, the United States has launched a series of strikes on boats in recent weeks.

Since early September, the Trump administration has launched eleven strikes against suspected drug traffickers, including the one that was revealed on Friday. The majority have occurred in the Caribbean, off the coast of South America, but on October 21 and 22, it conducted strikes in the Pacific Ocean.

The legitimacy of the strikes and the president’s power to call them have drawn criticism from both Republican and Democratic members of the US Congress.

Twenty-five Democratic US senators accused the administration of striking a ship days earlier “without evidence that the individuals on the vessel and the vessel’s cargo posed a threat to the United States” in a letter to the White House dated September 10.

Republican Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky has maintained that such strikes need permission from Congress.

Trump declared Tren de Aragua a terrorist organization and said he had the legal right to order the strikes. Trump told reporters at the White House on Wednesday, “We are permitted to do that, and if we do [it] by land, we may go back to Congress,”

“Stop delivering narcotics to the United States if people want to stop seeing drug boats blow up,” said US Secretary of State Marco Rubio. At least 43 people have been killed in US strikes, including the six fatalities from the operation Hegseth that were reported on Friday.

According to analysts, the strikes are intended to exert military pressure on President Nicolás Maduro’s Venezuelan regime in addition to combating drug trafficking.,A longstanding Trump opponent, he has accused Trump of being the head of a drug-trafficking organization, a charge he refutes.