US largest aircraft carrier arrives in Latin America

The Pentagon’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford, and its strike group arrived in the Latin American region on Tuesday, according to the U.S. Navy, as the Trump administration beefs up its military presence in the U.S. Southern Command (Southcom) area and strikes alleged drug-trafficking boats on both sides of South America.

1news.media citing The Hill, reports that USS Gerald R. Ford, carrying more than 4,000 sailors and dozens of tactical aircraft, entered the Southcom area of responsibility after being directed by the Department of Defense (DOD) to depart the Mediterranean in late October for what officials argued was assistance in dismantling transnational criminal organizations and curbing drug-smuggling.

“The enhanced U.S. force presence in the USSOUTHCOM AOR will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere,” chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement on Tuesday.

The Ford, whose escorts in the area include USS Bainbridge, USS Mahan, and USS Winston Churchill, will bolster U.S. firepower in the vicinity of Venezuela as the DOD has already deployed eight warships, F-35 fighter jets, and at least one nuclear-powered submarine in the Caribbean.