Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is routing a carrier strike group to US Southern Command to bolster efforts in a new Caribbean drug war.

President Donald Trump dramatically escalated a U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean on Friday by deploying the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier group to Latin America, a show of force that far exceeds any past counter-narcotics need and represents Washington’s most muscular move yet in the region.

Deploying an aircraft carrier is a major escalation of military power in a region that has already seen an unusually large US military buildup in the Caribbean Sea and the waters off Venezuela.View on

The Pentagon said the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group will enhance U.S. military capabilities in the Caribbean.

The U.S. military has built up an unusually large force in the Caribbean Sea. The Navy has eight warships in the region.

Democratic Sen. Mark Kelly said the Trump administration’s sending aircraft carrier battle group to waters around Central and South America is “questionable.”

China’s newest aircraft carrier may only be able to conduct air operations at about 60% the rate of a 50-year-old US Navy carrier, two former US carrier officers say, a substantial combat limitation for a vessel meant to revolutionize Beijing’s fleet.

The deployment and the quickening pace of U.S. strikes, including one Friday, raised new speculation about how far the Trump administration may go in operations it says are targeted at drug trafficking.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said Wednesday that his country intercepted three aircraft allegedly used for drug trafficking, coinciding with a major US military operation against narcotics

According to a statement released by the US Navy's Pacific Fleet, the incident occurred on Sunday while the helicopter and the fighter jet were conducting separate routine operations over the disputed waters.