{"id":377799,"date":"2025-11-14T07:25:33","date_gmt":"2025-11-14T07:25:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/377799\/"},"modified":"2025-11-14T07:25:33","modified_gmt":"2025-11-14T07:25:33","slug":"us-aircraft-carrier-nears-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/377799\/","title":{"rendered":"US aircraft carrier nears Venezuela"},"content":{"rendered":"

WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The most advanced U.S. aircraft carrier is expected to reach the waters<\/a> off Venezuela<\/a> in days, a flex of American military power not seen in Latin America for generations. <\/p>\n

Experts disagree on the possibility that American warplanes will catapult off the USS Gerald R. Ford to bomb targets inside Venezuela and further pressure authoritarian President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> to step down. Still, whether it may serve that purpose or only patrols the Caribbean as the U.S. blows up boats it accuses of trafficking drugs, the presence of the 100,000-ton warship alone is sending a message.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the anchor of what it means to have U.S. military power once again in Latin America,\u201d said Elizabeth Dickinson, the International Crisis Group\u2019s senior analyst for the Andes region. \u201cAnd it has raised a lot of anxieties in Venezuela but also throughout the region. I think everyone is watching this with sort of bated breath to see just how willing the U.S. is to really use military force.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ford\u2019s impending arrival is a major moment in the Trump administration\u2019s campaign in South America, which it describes as a counterdrug operation. It escalates the already massive buildup of military firepower in the region, with added pressure from bomber training runs near the Venezuelan coast, CIA operations that have been publicly authorized inside the country and boat strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean that have killed over 75 people.<\/p>\n

The U.S. has long used aircraft carriers as tools of deterrence to pressure and influence other nations, often without employing any force at all. They carry thousands of sailors and dozens of warplanes that can strike targets deep inside another country. <\/p>\n

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday formally named the mission Operation Southern Spear, emphasizing the growing significance and permanence of the military\u2019s presence in the region. Once the Ford arrives, the mission will encompass nearly a dozen Navy ships as well 12,000 sailors and Marines.<\/p>\n

Trump administration says it\u2019s focused on fighting drug trafficking<\/p>\n

Secretary of State Marco Rubio insists that President Donald Trump is focused on stopping drugs from entering the U.S. by combatting \u201corganized criminal narcoterrorists.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s what he\u2019s authorized. That\u2019s what the military\u2019s doing. That\u2019s why our assets are there,\u201d he told reporters Wednesday after meeting his counterparts from the Group of Seven democracies in Canada.<\/p>\n

But Rubio also says the U.S. doesn\u2019t recognize Maduro, who was widely accused of stealing last year\u2019s election<\/a>, as the leader of Venezuela and called the government a \u201ctransshipment organization\u201d that openly cooperates with those trafficking drugs toward the U.S.<\/p>\n

Some experts say deploying the Ford appears to be geared more toward a government change in Venezuela than drug trafficking. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s nothing that an aircraft carrier brings that is useful for combating the drug trade,\u201d Dickinson said. \u201cI think it\u2019s clearly a message that is much more geared toward pressuring Caracas.\u201d <\/p>\n

Bryan Clark, a former Navy submariner and defense analyst at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank, said the Trump administration would not have deployed the Ford \u201cif they didn\u2019t intend to use it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this administration is very open to using military force to accomplish particular objectives,\u201d Clark said. \u201cI think they\u2019re going to want to actually do some military operations unless Maduro steps down in the next month or so.\u201d <\/p>\n

After Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth briefed lawmakers last week<\/a>, Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said they gave no indication that the strikes would be stopping but also indicated that they were targeting cocaine traffickers and not overtly intending to overthrow Maduro.<\/p>\n

Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel and a senior adviser with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, expects U.S. warships to launch missiles from other ships before launching any American warplanes. He said Venezuela has relatively sophisticated missile defense systems from Russia that could put American pilots at risk. <\/p>\n

\u201cBecause they have so many systems, some are relatively new, and all are mobile, we probably wouldn\u2019t get them all,\u201d Cancian said. \u201cSo there\u2019s some risk that we could lose some aircraft.\u201d<\/p>\n

Venezuela mobilizes for possible attack<\/p>\n

Venezuela\u2019s government this week touted a \u201cmassive\u201d mobilization of troops and civilians to defend against possible U.S. attacks. Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino L\u00f3pez said in a statement that \u201cland, air, naval, riverine, and missile assets\u201d would be part of a two-day readiness effort \u201cto confront imperialist threats.\u201d<\/p>\n

State television showed members of the military, police and militias standing in formations across the country. Padrino also delivered remarks, broadcast on state television, standing by a surface-to-air missile system in a military base in the capital, Caracas.<\/p>\n

Maduro, who faces charges of narcoterrorism in the U.S., has insisted the Trump administration\u2019s intentions are to force him from power. Venezuela\u2019s U.S.-backed political opposition has renewed its promise of an imminent government change.<\/p>\n

David Smilde, a Tulane University professor who has studied Venezuela for more than 30 years, said the U.S. military does not have enough manpower in the region, even with the aircraft carrier, for an invasion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s consistent with this desire to demonstrate credible force, which they had already,\u201d Smilde said of the carrier. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t change the equation. I don\u2019t think that the fact that it is there means that they necessarily have to strike. It just means that Trump and Hegseth have not forgotten about this, and they are still onboard in trying to generate a regime change through a show of force.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smilde said Venezuela\u2019s political opposition has long told U.S. officials that \u201cjust a credible threat of force\u201d would cause Maduro\u2019s government to crumble. For Trump, he said, that would be the best outcome of this operation.<\/p>\n

Pushback on intelligence<\/p>\n

The U.S. actions have faced pushback in the region, in Congress and among rights organizations. However, Senate Republicans voted last week<\/a> to reject legislation that would have put a check on Trump\u2019s ability to launch an attack against Venezuela. <\/p>\n

Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who was recently hit with U.S. sanctions<\/a> over allegations of aiding the drug trade, on Tuesday announced he was cutting off intelligence sharing<\/a> with the longtime North American ally until the strikes stop. But he softened his stance the following day, saying the sharing would continue as long as agencies guarantee it won\u2019t be used in actions that jeopardize human rights.<\/p>\n

Rubio pushed back on reports that the United Kingdom has halted some intelligence sharing in the region over concerns about the strikes, saying U.S. assets in the region provide such information.<\/p>\n

The U.S. is not \u201casking anyone to help us with what we\u2019re doing \u2014 in any realm. And that includes the military,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Mexico, however, is stepping up its cooperation with the U.S. in targeting drug trafficking. President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday that her administration made an agreement with the U.S. for Mexico\u2019s navy to intercept boats in international waters near Mexico that the U.S. alleges are carrying drugs to avoid any more strikes off its coast.<\/p>\n

\u2018A use-it-or-lose-it kind of situation\u2019<\/p>\n

The Ford, originally deployed to the Mediterranean Sea, was within the U.S. Southern Command region but not yet in the Caribbean. The carrier was in the mid-Atlantic on Thursday, a defense official who wasn\u2019t authorized to discuss the matter said on condition of anonymity.<\/p>\n

Clark said sending the Ford to South America would have a minimal impact on costs and readiness in the short term because it still has a month or two left on its regularly scheduled deployment. <\/p>\n

Cancian, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the U.S. can\u2019t afford to have the Ford \u201cdawdling around the Caribbean\u201d for long. It\u2019s such a powerful military asset that it may be needed elsewhere, such as the Middle East.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a use-it-or-lose-it kind of situation,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"WASHINGTON (AP) \u2014 The most advanced U.S. aircraft carrier is expected to reach the waters off Venezuela in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":340274,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[3881,138693,1613,15581,69,20228,159070,110877,57,155993,95233,8127,1612,410,138694,8132,50,92550,6986,80,4217,5343,67,370,132,68,32322,179686,93,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-377799","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-united-states","8":"category-us","9":"tag-ap-top-news","10":"tag-bryan-clark","11":"tag-central-america","12":"tag-claudia-sheinbaum","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-drug-crimes","15":"tag-elizabeth-dickinson","16":"tag-garcia-cano","17":"tag-general-news","18":"tag-gerald-ford","19":"tag-gustavo-petro","20":"tag-james-himes","21":"tag-latin-america","22":"tag-marco-rubio","23":"tag-mark-cancian","24":"tag-military-and-defense","25":"tag-news","26":"tag-nicolas-maduro","27":"tag-pete-hegseth","28":"tag-politics","29":"tag-south-america","30":"tag-terrorism","31":"tag-united-states","32":"tag-united-states-government","33":"tag-unitedstates","34":"tag-us","35":"tag-venezuela","36":"tag-vladimir-padrino-lpez","37":"tag-washington-news","38":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115546863857732941","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=377799"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/377799\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/340274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=377799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=377799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=377799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}