Američka vojska raspoređuje svoj najnoviji i najveći nosač aviona u Južnu Ameriku usred rastućih tenzija s Venecuelom

(Patria) - U.S. President Donald Trump dramatically escalated the U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean on Friday by deploying the Gerald Ford carrier strike group to Latin America, a show of force that far exceeds any previous counter-narcotics needs and represents Washington's strongest move to date in the Latin American region, Reuters reported.

"The increased presence of U.S. forces in the USSOUTHCOM area of responsibility will strengthen the U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illegal actors and activities that threaten the security and prosperity of the U.S. homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell posted on social media platform X.

He did not specify when the aircraft carrier would move to the region, but a few days ago the carrier was traveling through the Strait of Gibraltar and into Europe.

The deployment is part of Trump's military buildup in the Caribbean, which includes eight additional warships, a nuclear submarine, and F-35 aircraft.

It is likely to raise concerns in the region about the Trump administration's intentions.

Since the beginning of September, the U.S. military has carried out ten strikes on suspected drug transport vessels, mostly in the Caribbean, killing about forty people. Although the Pentagon has not provided much information, it stated that some of those killed were Venezuelans.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. wants to oust him from power. In August, Washington doubled the reward for information leading to Maduro's arrest to fifty million dollars, accusing him of ties to drug trafficking and criminal groups, which Maduro denies.

The assembled military firepower far exceeds any conceivable need for the U.S. military to strike individual drug-related targets on land or sea. The Gerald Ford, commissioned in 2017, is the newest U.S. aircraft carrier and the largest in the world, with more than 5,000 sailors on board.

The carrier, powered by a nuclear reactor, can accommodate more than 75 military aircraft, including fighter jets such as the F-18 Super Hornet and the E-2 Hawkeye, which can act as an early warning system.

The aircraft carrier has an arsenal of missiles, such as the Evolved Sea Sparrow Missile, which are medium-range surface-to-air missiles used to counter drones and aircraft.