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The arrival of the USS Gerald R Ford, the nation\u2019s most advanced aircraft carrier, comes as US strikes alleged drug vessels in the region, killing dozens.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The United States\u2019 most advanced aircraft carrier has arrived in the Caribbean Sea in a flex of military power by the President Donald Trump administration, as it raises pressure on Venezuela and prompts questions about what the influx of troops and armoury could portend.<\/p>\n The arrival of the USS Gerald R Ford and other warships, announced by the US Navy in a statement on Sunday, marks a potentially pivotal moment in what the administration has pitched as a counterdrug operation, but is seen in many quarters as an aggressive push against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.<\/p>\n list of 3 items<\/span>end of list<\/span><\/section>\n The US has been conducting military strikes on vessels the administration alleges are transporting drugs. In recent months, the campaign has carried out about 20 strikes in the Caribbean and off the Pacific coasts of Latin America, killing some 80 people.<\/p>\n International law and human rights experts have repeatedly said that such attacks\u00a0amount to extrajudicial executions, even if those targeted are suspected of drug trafficking.<\/p>\n The administration has said that the build-up of American forces in the region is focused on stopping the flow of drugs into the US, but it has provided no evidence at all to support its assertions that those killed in the boats were what they term \u201cnarcoterrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n The Reuters news agency reported on Saturday that senior Trump administration officials held three meetings at the White House this week to discuss options for possible military action against Venezuela, citing unnamed officials.<\/p>\n The reported meetings come as the Trump administration has continued to significantly expand the US military\u2019s presence in the Latin America region, including with F-35 aircraft, warships and a nuclear submarine.<\/p>\n Earlier this week, the Pentagon said the Gerald R Ford Carrier Strike Group, which includes the world\u2019s largest aircraft carrier, had arrived in the Caribbean with at least 4,000 sailors and dozens of \u201ctactical aircraft\u201d on board.<\/p>\n In total, there are now about 12,000 US sailors and Marines in the region, in what US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Thursday formally named \u201cOperation Southern Spear\u201d.<\/p>\n Under the US Constitution, Congress has the sole power to declare war.<\/p>\n But Trump\u00a0has said\u00a0that he would not \u201cnecessarily ask for a declaration of war\u201d in order to continue killing people \u201cthat are bringing drugs into our country\u201d.<\/p>\n Rear Admiral Paul Lanzilotta, who commands the strike group, said it will bolster an already large force of American warships to \u201cprotect our nation\u2019s security and prosperity against narco-terrorism in the Western Hemisphere\u201d.<\/p>\n In Trinidad and Tobago, which is only 11 kilometres (seven miles) from Venezuela at its closest point, government officials said troops have begun \u201ctraining exercises\u201d with the US military.<\/p>\n Minister of Foreign Affairs Sean Sobers described the joint exercises as the second in less than a month, adding 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 US military strikes.<\/p>\n Venezuela\u2019s government has described the training exercises as an act of aggression. It had no immediate comment Sunday on the arrival of the aircraft carrier.<\/p>\n President Maduro, who faces charges of narcoterrorism in the US, has said the US government is \u201cfabricating\u201d a war against him. On his Facebook page, Maduro wrote on Sunday that the \u201cVenezuelan people are ready to defend their homeland against any criminal aggression\u201d.<\/p>\n Venezuela\u2019s government recently promoted a \u201cmassive\u201d mobilisation of troops and civilians to defend against possible US attacks.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The arrival of the USS Gerald R Ford, the nation\u2019s most advanced aircraft carrier, comes as US strikes alleged drug vessels in the region, killing dozens. The United States\u2019 most advanced aircraft carrier has arrived in the Caribbean Sea in a flex of military power by the President Donald Trump administration, as it raises pressure […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2352,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2351","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latin-america-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2351","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2351"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2351\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2352"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2351"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2351"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inernews.online\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2351"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Recommended Stories <\/h2>\n
\u2018Operation Southern Spear\u2019<\/h2>\n
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