The United States has decided to deploy an aircraft carrier in support of its operations presented as a fight against drug trafficking in Latin America, a considerable increase in American military assets in the region. Since the beginning of September, Washington has been carrying out a campaign of air strikes against boats presented as those of drug traffickers, mainly in Caribbean waters.
So far, ten are known – the most recent last night – all in the Caribbean, except one in the Pacific. They killed at least 43 people, according to an AFP count. The Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier, the largest in the world, will “reinforce current means to thwart drug trafficking,” the Pentagon announced Friday. The ship is currently off the coast of Split, Croatia.
“In support of the President’s (Donald Trump) directives to dismantle transnational criminal organizations and combat narco-terrorism in defense of the national territory, the Secretary of War ordered the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford […] to surrender” in the command zone corresponding to Central and South America, wrote the spokesperson for the American Department of Defense Sean Parnell on the social network X, without further specifying his destination.
“The strengthening of the American military presence in the area will consolidate the United States’ capacity to detect, monitor and stop illicit actors and activities,” he adds. This announcement from the Pentagon comes shortly after the last known American strike in the Caribbean, made public by Defense Minister Pete Hegseth in the morning.
Venezuelan gang targeted
“During the night, on the orders of President Trump, the War Department carried out a lethal strike against a boat used by Tren de Aragua,” a Venezuelan gang classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, “engaged in drug trafficking in Caribbean waters,” he said on X. “Six men narcoterrorists were on board” and “were killed,” continued the minister in his message accompanied by a nighttime video on which we can see a boat in a targeted stationary position before being destroyed by an explosion. This strike “was carried out in international waters,” he said.
These strikes are contested by a handful of elected Republican officials. According to the U.S. Constitution, the president must have Congressional approval to go to war. A vote is planned for next week, according to the New York Timesso that Donald Trump goes through Congress if he intends to attack Venezuela directly. Nicolas Maduro’s regime is accused by Washington of promoting drug trafficking and illegal immigration to the United States.
Abroad, the legality of this campaign is also questioned. “Under international human rights law, the intentional use of lethal force is permitted only as a last resort against an individual representing an imminent threat to life,” Marta Hurtado Gomez, spokesperson for the Geneva-based Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, told AFP. “Generally speaking, no one should be killed for drug offenses,” she continued.
Brazil’s warning
American military operations have increased regional tensions, with Venezuela in particular. Caracas accuses Washington of seeking to destabilize the power of President Nicolas Maduro and claims to have 5,000 portable anti-aircraft missiles to counter American forces. Regional power Brazil expressed concern over the “without evidence” airstrikes, which it called a “threat of external intervention.”
“We cannot accept external intervention […]. It could ignite South America and lead to political radicalization throughout the continent,” warned President Lula’s special advisor for Foreign Affairs, Celso Amorim, in an interview with AFP. At least one U.S. B-1B bomber flew over the Caribbean Sea off Venezuela on Thursday, flight tracking data showed, the second such show of force in recent days. An overview denied by Donald Trump.
