The world’s largest aircraft carrier has already entered Latin American waters. This is stated by the U.S. Army, which reports in a memo that “The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, led by the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R.
The carrier’s arrival, with all accompanying deployments, was made on orders from Army Secretary Pete Hegseth, following instructions from U.S. President Donald Trump to increase pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolas Madrudo.
“The increased presence of U.S. troops will strengthen the United States’ ability to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit activities and actors that undermine the security and prosperity of the United States and our national security in the Western Hemisphere,” said Pentagon Chief Press Secretary Sean Parnell. “These forces will strengthen and expand our existing capabilities to disrupt drug trafficking and undermine and dismantle transnational criminal organizations.”
In summary, the Pentagon assures that this deployment is related to an intensification of extrajudicial killing operations in the Caribbean and Eastern Pacific waters, which have resulted in 76 deaths in 19 attacks since September 2nd.
The aircraft carrier’s arrival also came after President Trump authorized a covert CIA operation in Venezuelan territory and announced a “land strike” to be followed by an attack at sea.
The carrier’s presence also exacerbates the concerns of many U.S. lawmakers about the operation to topple Maduro. So last week, members of the Trump administration successfully blocked a resolution aimed at halting White House operations in Venezuela, saying there was still no legal basis for attacking Venezuela.
The Pentagon announced on October 24 that the Secretary of Defense has ordered the transfer of the Ford aircraft carrier from Europe to Central and South America. The ship is homeported in Virginia and has been deployed since June.
USS Ford is the U.S. Navy’s largest and newest aircraft carrier, with 4,000 soldiers on board. He is accompanied by the destroyers USS Bainbridge, USS Mahan, and USS Winston S. Churchill.
The carrier strike group’s arrival brings the number of U.S. troops in the region to nearly 15,000, including personnel on 12 warships and reinforcements sent to U.S. military facilities in Puerto Rico in recent weeks.
This is an unprecedented military presence in the region, where historically only one or two Navy ships have been seen assisting the U.S. Coast Guard on drug-enforcement missions, which usually ended with the arrest and prosecution of suspects, the Washington Post reported.
Mobilization of Venezuelans
In the face of a hypothetical attack by the United States, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro announced an extraordinary mobilization by signing the Directive Law for the Comprehensive Defense of the State, which sets out the characteristics and functions of these institutions. The directive law was approved by the Venezuelan National Assembly on Tuesday of this week.
President Maduro said: “This law establishes the creation of a comprehensive defense command at the national level, at the state level and in 335 local governments. The comprehensive defense command is very clear about its mission, its structure and its tasks at every stage. From this moment on, as a republic and as a people, we must begin work to ensure that a comprehensive defense command is established, organized, and ready should it be our turn to go into armed struggle to defend this sacred heritage.” Liberators and prepare to win along the path of patriotism and courage. ”
According to the Venezuelan government, “more than 8 million” Venezuelans have joined the militia, and training days have been organized for the population on “military techniques” and the “state-by-state” deployment of the FANB, Efe reports, noting that the new law indicates that the comprehensive defense command is “ancillary” to the National Armed Forces Strategic Operations Command (Theofanb), according to the process of parliamentary debate. The so-called Integrated Defense Management Agency (ODDI) “has the mission of integrating, planning, defining, coordinating, directing, supervising, and exercising control.”
Its activities include “supporting military operations” as well as “ensuring the continuation of production activities and the operation of essential public services and critical infrastructure after mobilization has been declared.”
In parallel, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López said on state channel Venezolana de Television (VTV) that “almost 200,000 troops have been deployed throughout the country” for the implementation of Independence Plan 200.
Padrino said in a statement on his social networks that the deployment will begin at 4 a.m. local time this Tuesday and end this Wednesday. This mobilization includes “land, air, sea, river, missile”as well as weapons systems, military units, Bolivarian militias, civil security agencies, and commands for comprehensive defence.
Similarly, he assures that “the Comprehensive Defense Directorate (ODDI) will be activated in all states, federal and local governments.”
Suspension of Colombian and British cooperation with the United States
According to a CNN report this Tuesday, Britain has stopped sharing intelligence information with the United States about suspected drug-trafficking vessels in the Caribbean because it does not want to be complicit in U.S. military attacks as they are illegal.
Sources told the US network that British authorities believe the US attack, which killed 76 people, violated international law. Media outlets note that the intelligence suspension began more than a month ago.
Britain controls several territories in the Caribbean and maintains intelligence bases there. For years, it has helped the U.S. spot vessels suspected of transporting drugs, allowing the U.S. Coast Guard to seize them, officials said.
But relations changed after the United States launched deadly attacks on vessels suspected of transporting drugs in September, the newspaper said.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro on Tuesday ordered a “suspension of the transmission of communications and other transactions with U.S. security services” until the country’s attacks on vessels allegedly transporting drugs in Caribbean and Pacific waters cease.
“Intelligence agencies at all levels of law enforcement have been ordered to cease communications and other transactions with U.S. security agencies,” Petro wrote in X magazine.
“Such measures will remain in place as long as missile attacks on Caribbean ships continue,” the president explained, adding that “the war on drugs must be subordinated to the human rights of the Caribbean people.”
About The Author
