WASHINGTON (AP) — America’s most advanced aircraft carrier expected to reach bodies of water off Venezuela In a matter of days, a change in American military power not seen in Latin America for generations.
Experts differ on the possibility of American jets catapulting from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to bomb targets inside Venezuela to further pressure the authoritarian president. Nicolas Maduro To step down. Still, whether it serves its purpose or merely patrols the Caribbean when the U.S. blows up ships suspected of drug trafficking, the 100,000-ton warship’s mere presence sends a message.
“This really defines what it means to have U.S. military power again in Latin America,” said Elizabeth Dickinson, senior Andean analyst at the International Crisis Group. “It’s causing a lot of unrest, not only in Venezuela but throughout the region. I think everyone is waiting with bated breath to see how willing the United States is to actually use military force.”
Ford’s impending arrival marks a key moment in the Trump administration’s South American campaign, billed as a counter-drug operation. Adding pressure from bomber training near the Venezuelan coast, an officially sanctioned CIA operation in the country, and boat attacks in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that have killed more than 75 people, the already large military firepower buildup in the region will further escalate.
The United States has long used aircraft carriers as a deterrent tool to pressure and influence other countries, often without using force at all. They carry thousands of sailors and dozens of fighter jets and can attack targets deep in other countries.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday emphasized the growing importance and persistence of the military’s presence in the region, formally naming the mission “Operation Southern Spear.” Once Ford arrives, the mission will involve 12,000 Navy ships and 12,000 Marines.
Trump administration says it will focus on fighting drug trafficking
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has insisted that President Donald Trump is focused on stopping the flow of drugs into the United States by fighting “organized crime narco-terrorists.”
“That’s what empowers him. That’s what the military does. That’s why our assets are there,” he told reporters Wednesday after meeting with participants from the Group of Seven Democracies in Canada.
But Rubio also said the United States does not recognize Maduro. widely accused of stealing last year’s electionas Venezuela’s leader, called the government a “transshipment organization” that openly collaborates with drug traffickers bound for the United States.
Some experts say Ford’s deployment appears to be more aimed at regime change in Venezuela than drug trafficking.
“There’s nothing an aircraft carrier carries that would help in the fight against drug trafficking,” Dickinson said. “I think this is clearly a message aimed at putting pressure on Caracas.”
Brian Clark, a former Navy submariner and defense analyst at the conservative Hudson Institute think tank, said the Trump administration would not have deployed the Ford “if it wasn’t intended to be used.”
“I think this administration is very willing to use military force to accomplish certain objectives,” Clark said. “Unless President Maduro steps down in the next month or so, they will actually want to carry out a military operation.”
What happened to Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth? I received an explanation from members of Congress last week.Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, showed no signs of stopping the strikes, but said the attacks targeted cocaine traffickers and were not overtly aimed at overthrowing Maduro.
Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel and senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, expects U.S. warships to launch missiles from other ships before launching U.S. fighter jets. He said Venezuela has a relatively sophisticated Russian missile defense system that could put U.S. pilots at risk.
“They have so many systems, some are relatively new, and they’re all mobile, so you probably won’t be able to get them all,” Cancian said. “Therefore, there is a risk that we may lose some aircraft.”
Venezuela mobilizes for possible attack
Venezuela’s government this week touted a “massive” mobilization of military and civilian forces to fend off a possible U.S. attack. Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López said in a statement that “land, air, sea, river and missile assets” would be deployed as part of a two-day rapid response operation “to counter imperialist threats.”
State television showed members of the military, police and militias standing in ranks across the country. Padrino also spoke while standing next to a surface-to-air missile system at a military base in the capital, Caracas, which was broadcast on state television.
Maduro, who is facing drug-terrorism charges in the United States, insists the Trump administration’s intention is to remove him from power. Venezuela’s US-backed opposition has reiterated its commitment to imminent regime change.
David Smilde, a professor at Tulane University who has studied Venezuela for more than 30 years, said the U.S. military does not have enough personnel, including aircraft carriers, to invade the region.
“It’s consistent with this desire to demonstrate the credible force that they already had,” Smilde said of the carrier. “That doesn’t change the equation. I don’t think the fact that it exists necessarily means we have to attack it. It means that Trump and Hegseth have not forgotten this and are still working to cause regime change through a show of force.”
Smilde said Venezuelan rebels have long told U.S. officials that only a “credible threat of force” would bring down Maduro’s regime. For Trump, that would be the best outcome of the operation, he said.
Backlash against espionage
The U.S. action faces pushback in the region, Congress, and rights groups. However, Senate Republicans I voted last week This is to veto a bill that would have curbed President Trump’s ability to attack Venezuela.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro recently said: subject to US sanctions The following was announced on Tuesday on charges of aiding and abetting drug trafficking. Block information sharing We will work with our long-time North American allies until the attacks cease. But the next day, he softened his stance, saying the sharing would continue as long as government agencies guaranteed it would not be used to threaten human rights.
Rubio denied reports that Britain had stopped sharing some intelligence in the region over concerns about airstrikes, saying U.S. assets in the region were providing such information.
The United States “is not asking for cooperation in what we’re doing in any area, including the military,” he said.
However, Mexico is increasing its cooperation with the United States in combating drug trafficking. President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday that her administration has reached an agreement with the United States for the Mexican Navy to intercept vessels in international waters near Mexico that the United States says are carrying drugs to avoid further attacks off the coast of Mexico.
“Use it or lose it”
Ford was initially deployed to the Mediterranean Sea, within the U.S. Southern Military District, but had not yet entered the Caribbean Sea. The aircraft carrier was in the mid-Atlantic on Thursday, said a defense official who was not authorized to discuss the matter and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Clark said the impact on costs and readiness will be minimal in the short term, as Ford still has a month or two left in its scheduled deployment to South America.
Cancian, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the United States cannot afford to have Ford “loitering around the Caribbean” for long periods of time. This is such a powerful military asset that it may be needed elsewhere, such as in the Middle East.
“This is a use it or lose it situation,” he says.
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García Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela.
