US Intensifies Military Campaign Near Venezuela

The United States has intensified a military campaign in the Caribbean and off South America, dispatching the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford—joined by several destroyers, a nuclear submarine and roughly 6,000 sailors and marines—to bolster detection, monitoring and disruption of alleged drug‑smuggling networks. In recent weeks U.S. forces have struck roughly nine to ten vessels in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, leaving at least 37–40+ people dead, in an operation U.S. officials describe as targeting “narco‑terrorists.” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth publicly identified one struck vessel as linked to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, saying six people were killed and warning traffickers they would be hunted “like al Qaeda.” Flight‑tracking data and multiple reports indicate B‑1 and B‑52 bomber flights near Venezuela and earlier F‑35 demonstrations, though President Trump has denied that B‑1s were sent. The buildup and offensive strikes have heightened tensions with Caracas, prompted speculation about further escalation — including Trump’s remark that “we could see land action soon” — and come amid U.S. narcoterrorism charges against President Nicolás Maduro.