Washington– The most advanced American aircraft carrier It is expected to hit the water on Venezuela Within days, there was a display of American military power not seen in Latin America for generations.
Experts disagree on the possibility of US warplanes launching from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to bomb targets inside Venezuela and increase pressure on the authoritarian president. Nicolas Maduro To step down. However, whether it is serving that purpose or merely patrolling the Caribbean while the United States bombs boats it accuses of drug smuggling, the presence of the 100,000-ton warship alone sends a message.
“This is the linchpin of what it means to have US military power again in Latin America,” said Elizabeth Dickinson, senior Andean analyst at the International Crisis Group. He added: “This has raised a lot of concerns in Venezuela, but also throughout the region. I think everyone is watching this with bated breath to see how willing the United States really is to use military force.”
The imminent arrival of the Ford represents an important moment in the Trump administration’s campaign in South America, which it describes as an anti-drug operation. It escalates an already massive build-up of military firepower in the region, with added pressure from bomber exercises near the Venezuelan coast, publicly declared CIA operations inside the country, and boat strikes in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific that have claimed more than 75 lives.
The United States has long used aircraft carriers as tools of deterrence to pressure and influence other countries, often without using any force at all. It carries thousands of sailors and dozens of warplanes that can strike targets deep within another country.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday officially named the mission Operation Southern Spear, stressing the growing importance and continuity of the military presence in the region. Once Ford arrives, the mission will include nearly a dozen Navy ships as well as 12,000 sailors and Marines.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio insists that President Donald Trump is focused on preventing drugs from entering the United States by combating “organized criminal narco-terrorists.”
“That’s what he allowed. That’s what the military does. That’s why our assets are there,” he told reporters on Wednesday after meeting with his G7 counterparts in Canada.
But Rubio also says the United States does not recognize Maduro, which he was He was widely accused of stealing last year’s electionsAs leader of Venezuela, he described the government as a “transshipment organization” that openly cooperates with those who traffic drugs toward the United States.
Some experts say the deployment of the Ford appears to be geared more toward changing the government in Venezuela than drug trafficking.
“There is nothing the aircraft carrier brings that is useful in combating the drug trade,” Dickinson said. “I think it’s a message directed more towards putting pressure on Caracas.”
Brian Clark, a former Navy diver and defense analyst at the Hudson Institute, a conservative think tank, said the Trump administration would not have deployed Ford “if it didn’t intend to use it.”
“I think this administration is very open to using military force to achieve certain goals,” Clark said. “I think they will want to actually do some military operations unless Maduro steps down in the next month or so.”
After Rubio and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth He briefed lawmakers last weekRep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said they gave no indication that the strikes would stop, but also indicated they were targeting cocaine traffickers and did not publicly intend to oust Maduro.
Mark Cancian, a retired Marine Corps colonel and senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, expects American warships to launch missiles from other ships before launching any American warplanes. He said Venezuela has relatively advanced missile defense systems from Russia that could put American pilots at risk.
“Since they have a lot of systems, some of which are relatively new, and all of which are mobile, we probably won’t get them all,” Cancian said. “So there is some risk that we might lose some aircraft.”
The Venezuelan government this week touted a “massive” mobilization of troops and civilians to defend against potential US attacks. Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said in a statement that “land, air, sea, river and missile assets” will be part of a two-day preparedness effort “to confront imperialist threats.”
State television showed members of the army, police and militia standing in formations across the country. Padrino also made remarks broadcast on state television, while standing next to a surface-to-air missile system at a military base in the capital, Caracas.
Maduro, who faces drug-related terrorism charges in the United States, insisted that the Trump administration’s intentions were to force him from power. The US-backed Venezuelan political opposition renewed its promise of an imminent change of government.
David Smiled, a professor at Tulane University who has studied Venezuela for more than 30 years, said the U.S. military does not have enough manpower in the region, even with an aircraft carrier, for an invasion.
“It aligned with this desire to demonstrate trustworthy power, which they already had,” Smiled said of the carrier. “It doesn’t change the equation. I don’t think the fact that it’s there means they necessarily have to strike. It just means that Trump and Hegseth haven’t forgotten about this, and they’re still on board with trying to bring about regime change through a show of force.”
Smilde said Venezuela’s political opposition has long told U.S. officials that “merely a credible threat to use force” would cause the Maduro government to collapse. He said that this would be the best outcome of this process for Trump.
The American measures faced opposition in the region, in Congress, and among human rights organizations. But Republicans in the Senate I voted last week To reject legislation that would have put an end to Trump’s ability to launch an attack on Venezuela.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro, who was recently Hit by US sanctions Because of allegations of aiding the drug trade, he announced Tuesday that he was Cut off intelligence sharing With a long-time North American ally, the strikes will stop. But he softened his stance the next day, saying participation would continue as long as agencies ensured they would not be used in actions that endangered human rights.
Rubio responded to reports that the UK had halted some intelligence sharing in the region over concerns about strikes, saying US assets in the region were providing such information.
He said that the United States “is not asking anyone to help us with what we are doing – in any area. This includes the military.”
However, Mexico is strengthening its cooperation with the United States in targeting drug trafficking. President Claudia Sheinbaum said Thursday that her administration has reached an agreement with the United States that requires the Mexican Navy to intercept boats in international waters near Mexico that the United States claims are carrying drugs to avoid further strikes off its coast.
The Ford vehicle, which was originally deployed in the Mediterranean, was within the US Southern Command area but had not yet reached the Caribbean. The carrier was in the mid-Atlantic on Thursday, a defense official who was not authorized to discuss the matter said on condition of anonymity.
Clark said sending Ford to South America would have little impact on costs and readiness in the short term because it is still a month or two away from its regular deployment.
Cancian, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the United States could not afford to keep a Ford “cruising the Caribbean” for long. They are such a powerful military asset that they may be needed elsewhere, such as the Middle East.
“It’s a use-it-or-lose-it kind of situation,” he said.
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Garcia Cano reported from Caracas, Venezuela.