The US is strengthening its forces around Venezuela. Maduro accuses Washington of planning an overthrow
2025-11-11 17:23, updated 2025-11-11 18:11
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2025-11-11 17:23
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2025-11-11 18:11
The Gerald Ford aircraft carrier strike group has moved into the area of responsibility of the US Southern Command, which extends to Latin American countries, the US Navy announced on Tuesday. This significantly increases the country's accumulated forces in the region.
The aircraft carrier entered the Southern Command's area of responsibility, which extends to all Latin American countries except Mexico, on November 11, the release said. It was emphasized that this was to help in the fight against drug smuggling.
The deployment of forces was ordered last month by US President Donald Trump. There are already eight warships, a nuclear submarine and F-35 fighter jets in the Caribbean region, Reuters reported.
The Pentagon announced the sending of the Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group to the Southern Command area of responsibility at the end of October.
Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro maintains that the buildup of US forces is aimed at removing him from power.
The US accuses Maduro of directing drug smuggling and does not recognize him as the rightful president of Venezuela. Most U.S. attacks on suspected smugglers' boats have occurred off the country's coast. In August, US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that the United States was offering a $50 million reward for information leading to the arrest of the Venezuelan leader.
USS Gerald R. Ford is the newest and largest aircraft carrier in the US Navy. With a displacement of over 100 thousand tons takes on board over 75 combat aircraft. Like other units of this class, it operates together with escort and supply ships. Typically, such a grouping includes several destroyers or frigates, often reinforced with a cruiser and submarines. They are accompanied by logistic ships. In total, there may be up to 8,000 people on board of such a grouping. soldiers.
CNN: London stopped sharing intelligence with the US regarding smugglers' boats
Britain has stopped sharing intelligence with the US about boats in the Caribbean region suspected of drug smuggling, CNN reported on Tuesday. London does not want to be involved in American attacks on these units and considers them illegal, sources say.
London's decision shows a serious rupture in relations between allies and partners who share intelligence information, the website wrote. It also symbolizes growing skepticism about whether the US military campaign against drug cartels is legal.
The station's sources emphasized that for years, Britain, which controls some territories in the Caribbean where it has intelligence resources, has helped the US locate units suspected of transporting drugs, which has enabled the US border guards to stop them. This meant boats were stopped, their crews arrested and drugs confiscated.
However, shortly after the US began deadly attacks on boats in September, Britain began to fear that the Americans could use intelligence provided by the British to select targets for their strikes.
According to British authorities, the American attacks, which killed 76 people, constitute a violation of international law, sources said. The station's interlocutors reported that the information stopped being transmitted over a month ago.
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCHR) Volker Tuerk said last month that the attacks violated international law and amounted to “killing beyond justice.” The British agree with this opinion, CNN sources say.
Before the strikes began, the fight against smugglers was led by law enforcement and the US Coast Guard, and cartel members and smugglers were treated as criminals who were entitled to due process rights, and Britain was happy to help the US in this process, the station's interlocutors told us.
The White House notified Congress that President Donald Trump has officially recognized that the United States is engaged in a non-international armed conflict. In the memo, the administration described drug cartels as terrorist organizations and called smugglers “illegal combatants.”
From Washington Natalia Dziurdzińska (PAP)
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