US to escalate military presence in South America with aircraft carrier group

25/10/2025 6:30

President Donald Trump’s administration escalated a U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean on Friday by announcing the deployment of the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier group to Latin America — a show of force far beyond any past counter-narcotics effort and Washington’s most assertive move in the region yet.



The deployment, which adds to the eight warships, a nuclear submarine and F-35 aircraft already in the region, marks a significant escalation amid heightened tensions with Venezuela, whose government Washington has long accused of harboring drug traffickers and undermining democratic institutions.



"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," Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell posted on X.