The US government has ordered the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford and accompanying vessels to deploy to the Caribbean.

It comes as part of a military buildup in the region that Washington says aims to combat drug trafficking but that the Venezuelan leadership says is an attempt at "fabricating a war."

The carrier deployment comes after US President Donald Trump — who campaigned on a pledge to end foreign military interventions — launched a military campaign in early September during which at least 10 vessels in the region have been destroyed in strikes for allegedly carrying narcotics.

What have US officials said about the deployment?

The carrier deployment "will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle TCOs [transnational criminal organizations]," Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said in a statement.

"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," he posted on X.
 

The announcement came after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said six people in the Caribbean Sea had been killed in a US strike on a boat that was allegedly operated by the Venezuelan drug trafficking gang Tren de Agua.  

"If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you like we treat Al-Qaeda. Day or NIGHT, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you," Hegseth said on his X account under the title he has been given under the Trump administration: secretary of war.

Venezuela's Maduro accuses US of 'fabricating a war'

The US has already sent considerable military materiel to the region as part of its campaign, including 10 F-35 stealth fighters, a nuclear submarine and eight US Navy ships.

At least one US B-1B bomber flew over the Caribbean off Venezuela's coast on Thursday, according to flight tracking data, while last week several B-52 bombers also circled near the country's coastline.

The decision to send the carrier on top of this is likely to aggravate fears on the part of Caracas that the final aim of Washington is to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro, whom the US government accuses of supporting drug trafficking gangs.

Late on Friday, Maduro accused the Trump administration of stoking "a new eternal war."

"They promised they would never again get involved in a war, and they are fabricating a war that we are going to prevent," Maduro told state broadcasters.

Trump himself said on Thursday that he did not need US lawmakers to declare war to launch an attack on Venezuela or any other countries he accuses of participating in drug trafficking and suggested that strikes on land might be imminent.

"The land is going to be next," Trump said.

Edited by: Zac Crellin