US aircraft carrier arrives in the Caribbean in buildup near Venezuela

The nation’s most advanced aircraft carrier arrived in the Caribbean Sea on Sunday in a display of U.S. military power, raising questions about what the new influx of troops and weaponry could signal for the Trump administration’s intentions in South America as it conducts military strikes against vessels suspected of transporting drugs.

The arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford and other warships, announced by the Navy in a statement, marks a major moment in what the administration insists is a counterdrug operation but has been seen as an escalating pressure tactic against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro . Since early September, U.S. strikes have killed at least 80 people in 20 attacks on small boats accused of transporting drugs in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.

The Ford rounds off the largest buildup of U.S. firepower in the region in generations. With its arrival, the “Operation Southern Spear” mission includes nearly a dozen Navy ships and about 12,000 sailors and Marines.

The carrier strike group, which includes squadrons of fighter jets and guided-missile destroyers, transited the Anegada Passage near the British Virgin Islands on Sunday morning, the Navy said.

Rear Adm. Paul Lanzilotta, who commands the strike group, said it will bolster an already large force of American warships to “protect our nation’s security and prosperity against narco-terrorism in the Western Hemisphere.”

Adm. Alvin Holsey, the commander who oversees the Caribbean and Latin America, said in a statement that the American forces “stand ready to combat the transnational threats that seek to destabilize our region.”

Holsey, who will retire next month after just a year on the job, said the strike group’s deployment is “a critical step in reinforcing our resolve to protect the security of the Western Hemisphere and the safety of the American Homeland.”

In Trinidad and Tobago, which is only 7 miles from Venezuela at its closest point, government officials said troops have begun “training exercises” with the U.S. military that will run through much of the week.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Sean Sobers described the joint exercises as the second in less than a month and said they are aimed at tackling violent crime on the island nation, which has become a stopover point for drug shipments headed to Europe and North America. The prime minister has been a vocal supporter of the U.S. military strikes.

The exercises will include Marines from the 22nd Expeditionary Unit who have been stationed aboard the Navy ships that have been looming off Venezuela’s coast for months.

Venezuela’s government has described the training exercises as an act of aggression. It had no immediate comment Sunday on the arrival of the aircraft carrier.

The administration has insisted that the buildup is focused on stopping the flow of drugs into the U.S., but it has released no evidence to support its assertions that those killed in the boats were “narcoterrorists.” Trump has indicated military action would expand beyond strikes by sea, saying the U.S. would “stop the drugs coming in by land.”

The U.S. has long used aircraft carriers to pressure and deter aggression by other nations because their warplanes can strike targets deep inside another country. Some experts say the Ford is ill-suited to fighting cartels, but it could be an effective instrument of intimidation for Maduro in a push to get him to step down.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the United States does not recognize Maduro, who was widely accused of stealing last year’s election, as Venezuela’s legitimate leader. Rubio has called Venezuela’s government a “transshipment organization” that openly cooperates with those trafficking drugs.

Maduro, who faces charges of narcoterrorism in the U.S., has said the U.S. government is “fabricating” a war against him. Venezuela’s government recently touted a “massive” mobilization of troops and civilians to defend against possible U.S. attacks.

Trump has justified the attacks on drug boats by saying the U.S. is in “armed conflict” with drug cartels while claiming the boats are operated by foreign terror organizations.

He has faced pushback from leaders in the region, the U.N. human rights chief and U.S. lawmakers, including Republicans, who have pressed for more information on who is being targeted and the legal justification for the boat strikes.

Senate Republicans, however, recently voted to reject legislation that would have put a check on Trump’s ability to launch an attack against Venezuela without congressional authorization.

Experts disagree on whether or not American warplanes may be used to strike land targets inside Venezuela. Either way, the 100,000-ton warship is sending a message.

“This is the anchor of what it means to have U.S. military power once again in Latin America,” said Elizabeth Dickinson, the International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for the Andes region. “And it has raised a lot of anxieties in Venezuela but also throughout the region. I think everyone is watching this with sort of bated breath to see just how willing the U.S. is to really use military force.”

美国最先进的航空母舰于周日抵达加勒比海，展示了美国的军事实力，这引发了人们的疑问：此次新一轮的部队和武器部署可能预示着特朗普政府在南美洲的意图，因为美国正在对涉嫌运输毒品的船只进行军事打击。

美国海军在一份声明中宣布，“杰拉尔德·R·福特”号航空母舰及其他军舰的抵达，标志着美国政府所称的禁毒行动进入了一个重要阶段，但外界普遍认为这是美国对委内瑞拉总统尼古拉斯·马杜罗不断升级的施压策略。自9月初以来，美国在加勒比海和东太平洋地区对被指控运输毒品的小型船只发动了20次袭击，造成至少80人死亡。

“福特”号的到来标志着美国在该地区数代人以来规模最大的火力集结完成。随着它的抵达，“南方之矛行动”包括近十艘海军舰艇和约12000名水兵和海军陆战队员。

海军方面表示，包括战斗机中队和导弹驱逐舰在内的航母打击群于周日上午通过了英属维尔京群岛附近的阿内加达海峡。

指挥该打击群的海军少将保罗·兰齐洛塔表示，这将加强美国庞大的军舰力量，以“保护我们国家在西半球免受毒品恐怖主义的侵害，维护国家安全和繁荣”。

负责加勒比海和拉丁美洲事务的海军上将阿尔文·霍尔西在一份声明中表示，美军“随时准备打击企图破坏我们地区稳定的跨国威胁”。

霍尔西上任仅一年，将于下个月退休。他表示，打击群的部署是“加强我们保护西半球安全和美国本土安全决心的一个关键步骤”。

特立尼达和多巴哥距离委内瑞拉最近的地方只有 7 英里，该国政府官员表示，军队已开始与美军进行“训练演习”，演习将持续一周的大部分时间。

外交部长肖恩·索伯斯称，这是不到一个月内的第二次联合演习，旨在打击这个岛国的暴力犯罪。该国已成为毒品运往欧洲和北美的中转站。总理一直以来都公开支持美国的军事打击行动。

此次演习将包括驻扎在委内瑞拉海岸附近海军舰艇上的第 22 远征部队的海军陆战队员，这些舰艇已经在那里盘旋了数月之久。

委内瑞拉政府将此次训练演习描述为侵略行为。周日，委内瑞拉政府未立即对航母抵达一事发表评论。

美国政府坚称，此次军事集结的目的是阻止毒品流入美国，但并未公布任何证据来支持其关于船上遇难者是“毒品恐怖分子”的说法。特朗普曾表示，军事行动将不仅限于海上打击，美国还将“阻止毒品通过陆路流入美国”。

美国长期以来一直利用航空母舰向他国施压并威慑其侵略行为，因为其战机能够打击他国境内纵深目标。一些专家认为，“福特”号航母并不适合打击贩毒集团，但它或许能成为迫使马杜罗下台的有效威慑工具。

美国国务卿马可·卢比奥表示，美国不承认马杜罗为委内瑞拉合法领导人，马杜罗被广泛指控窃取了去年的选举。卢比奥称委内瑞拉政府是一个“转运组织”，公开与贩毒集团合作。

马杜罗在美国面临毒品恐怖主义指控，他声称美国政府正在“捏造”一场针对他的战争。委内瑞拉政府近期宣称已“大规模”动员军队和平民，以抵御美国可能的攻击。

特朗普为袭击贩毒船只的行为辩护，称美国与贩毒集团处于“武装冲突”状态，同时声称这些船只是由外国恐怖组织运营的。

他遭到了该地区领导人、联合国人权事务高级专员和美国议员（包括共和党人）的反对，他们要求提供更多关于袭击目标和船民袭击的法律依据的信息。

然而，参议院共和党人最近投票否决了一项旨在限制特朗普在未经国会授权的情况下对委内瑞拉发动攻击的法案。

专家们对于美国战机是否会被用于打击委内瑞拉境内的陆地目标存在分歧。但无论如何，这艘10万吨级的军舰都在传递某种信息。

“这标志着美国再次在拉丁美洲拥有军事力量的意义所在，”国际危机组织安第斯地区高级分析师伊丽莎白·迪金森表示，“这不仅在委内瑞拉引发了诸多担忧，也在整个地区引发了担忧。我认为每个人都在屏息凝神地关注着事态发展，想看看美国究竟有多大的意愿动用武力。”