The U.S. military is deploying the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and its strike group to the waters off South America, the Pentagon announced Friday, marking the latest and most significant escalation of military forces in a region already seeing a buildup.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the deployment to U.S. Southern Command to “bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States,” according to Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell in a social media post.
The USS Ford, currently stationed in the Mediterranean Sea with three destroyers, will take several days to reach the deployment area. The move is considered a major escalation of military power in a region that has recently seen an increased U.S. military presence in the Caribbean Sea and the waters off Venezuela.
READ: Trump Authorizes Secret CIA Operations In Venezuela, Including Possible Anti-Cartel Strikes
The announcement closely followed Hegseth’s disclosure hours earlier that the military had conducted its 10th strike on a suspected drug-running boat. This latest strike left six people dead and raised the total death count from the operations, which began in early September, to at least 43 people.
Quickening Pace and Expanding Scope of Operations
The pace of the strikes has quickened significantly, accelerating from roughly one every few weeks to three this week. The operations have also expanded in scope, with two of the most recent attacks carried out in the Eastern Pacific Ocean, a key route for cocaine smuggling from the world’s largest producers.
Hegseth linked the vessel struck overnight to the Tren de Aragua gang, which originated in a Venezuelan prison. This is the second time the administration has tied its operations to the gang.
The military has been providing limited details on the operations. A 20-second black and white video of the latest strike, posted to social media, shows a long, thin projectile descending on a small, apparently motionless boat, followed by an explosion.
READ: Deadly Shift: US Military Strikes Drug Vessel In Pacific, Hegseth Equates Cartels To ‘Al Qaeda’
Hegseth boasted that the nighttime strike, which he said occurred in international waters, was the first conducted after dark.
“If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you like we treat Al-Qaeda,” Hegseth wrote in a defiant social media post. “Day or NIGHT, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you.”
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