The US is sending the world's largest aircraft carrier to the Caribbean. The military operation launched by Trump against “narco-terrorists” is gaining momentum
The USS Gerald R. Ford is the US Navy's largest aircraft carrier. Photo credit: Nikola Vilic / imago stock&people / Profimedia
The United States has decided to deploy an aircraft carrier in support of its operations presented as a fight against drug trafficking in Latin America, the Pentagon announced on Friday, which represents a considerable increase in American military assets in the region, AFP and Reuters reports.
“In support of the president's (Donald Trump) directives to dismantle transnational criminal organizations and combat narco-terrorism, in order to protect the national territory, the Secretary of War ordered the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford (…) to head” to the command area corresponding to Central and South America (USSOUTHCOM), the spokesperson of the Department said American Defense, Sean Parnell, on the X social network, Agerpres cites.
“The increased presence of U.S. forces in USSOUTHCOM's area of responsibility will strengthen the U.S. ability to detect, monitor, and combat illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States territory and our security in the Western Hemisphere,” Sean Parnell said in the same post.
The Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier is known to be the largest in the world, and the quoted spokesman did not say when it and the naval group accompanying it would arrive in the area.
New American strike against a boat with alleged traffickers
A new attack by the US military against a boat with suspected drug traffickers was launched last night in the Caribbean and killed six people, US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced on Friday, according to AFP and Agerpres.
“Last night, at the order of President Trump, a lethal attack was launched against a vessel used by Tren de Aragua,” a Venezuelan gang classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, Hegseth wrote on the X social network.
“Six narco-terrorists were on board the boat at the time of the attack and were killed,” Hegseth said.
Overnight, at the direction of President Trump, the Department of War carried out a lethal kinetic strike on a vessel operated by Tren de Aragua (TdA), a Designated Terrorist Organization (DTO), trafficking narcotics in the Caribbean Sea.
The vessel was known by our… pic.twitter.com/lVlw0FLBv4
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) October 24, 2025
The US has deployed significant military assets in the Caribbean and has launched attacks since early September on several vessels presented as belonging to drug traffickers.
According to Washington, the cartels – some classified by the US as “terrorist organizations” – involved in drug trafficking have become over the last decades “more armed, better organized and violent”, and “illegally and directly cause the death of tens of thousands of American citizens every year”.
However, Washington has not made public evidence to support the claim that the targets of its strikes are indeed drug traffickers, and experts say that summary executions are illegal, even if they target proven traffickers.
