US deploys world’s largest warship to Latin America amid escalating tensions • FRANCE 24 English

US deploys world’s largest warship to Latin America amid escalating tensions • FRANCE 24 English

Well, meanwhile, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the warship USS Gerald or Ford, has been deployed to Latin America. Its arrival marking another escalation in the military buildup between the US and Venezuela. Venezuela responding by announcing what it calls a massive deployment of land, sea, and air forces as well as civilian militia. Colombia, for its part, has suspended its exchange of information cooperation with the United States due to strikes on drug vessels in the region. Since early September, the United States has bombed some 20 boats in the area, killing at least 75 people. From Washington, our correspondent Fraser Jackson tells us more. Having been previously deployed off the coast of Israel, the US’s and indeed the world’s largest aircraft carrier is once again being used as a show of strength. This time the 337 m long USS Gerald Ford and its strike group have joined the US fourth fleet in the Caribbean as the US ratchets up pressure on Venezuela. The move was ordered weeks ago by President Donald Trump and comes after at least 19 strikes on boats that the US claims were carrying drugs bound for the US market without publicly providing evidence. At least 76 people have died in those strikes, one of whom the Colombian government said was a man on a fishing trip. Well, Colombia’s president has accused Donald Trump of committing extrajudicial killings and called for him to be investigated for war crimes. On Tuesday, Colombia suspended intelligence sharing with the US as well. But really, all eyes have been on Venezuela and its president Maduro, who’s accused the US of trying to bring about regime change in the country. Despite Donald Trump claiming that his actions are part of his war on drugs, Maduro has accused the US of fabricating a new war, even calling the US’s increased naval presence the greatest threat our continent has faced in the past 100 years. Well, in response, Maduro is mobilizing a vast number of forces across land, sea, and indeed the air to respond to the US’s posture. The arrival of the USS Gerald Ford and its over 4,000 soldiers signals the US’s largest military presence in the Caribbean since the 1989 invasion of Panama.

The world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford, on Tuesday arrived in the Caribbean where it has been deployed by the US as part of an ongoing anti-drugs offensive in the region. The show of strength has ratcheted up tensions with Venezuela says FRANCE 24’s Fraser Jackson reporting from Washington.
#Caribbean #US #Venezuela

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