The Trump administration is making serious provocative moves that indicate the possibility of military action.
Published October 24, 2025
Amid speculation that the Venezuelan government may be overthrown, the United States will send an aircraft carrier strike group to Latin America as it significantly strengthens its military presence in the region.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered the aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford and five accompanying strike group destroyers to deploy to Central and South America, a U.S. military spokesperson said Friday.
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“The increased presence of U.S. forces in the USSOUTHCOM AOR will strengthen the United States’ ability to detect, monitor, and disrupt illegal actors and activities that undermine the security and prosperity of the U.S. homeland and the security of the Western Hemisphere,” Pentagon Press Secretary Sean Parnell said in a social media post.
But the deployment signals a level of military power that goes far beyond the Trump administration’s stated goals of combating drug trafficking, and comes as the United States takes a tougher stance on Caracas, which has long been the target of American ire.
The United States already has about 6,000 sailors and marines on eight warships in the region, and will now be joined by the USS Gerald Ford and five destroyers in the Strike Group, with an additional 4,500 troops. The aircraft carrier is currently in the Mediterranean Sea, and it is unclear when it will arrive in Latin America.
Last week, President Trump said he had authorized the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the United States’ international spy agency, to carry out operations in Venezuela, suggesting that an attack on Venezuelan territory could occur soon.
As a pretext for these moves, the Trump administration has pushed baseless claims that President Nicolas Maduro’s government is collaborating with criminal organizations to “invade” the United States through drugs and immigration. Venezuela plays a small role in the global drug trade, and internal U.S. intelligence assessments have found little evidence of claims that the Maduro regime controls criminal organizations.
Since early September, the United States has increased military attacks on vessels in the region that it claims, often without substantiation, are transporting drugs from Venezuela. United Nations officials and international legal scholars said the attack was in clear violation of U.S. and international law and amounted to an extrajudicial execution.
Maduro’s government said it would respond forcefully to any attempt by the United States to overthrow the government.
Foreign Minister Vladimir Padrino said Friday: “No matter how you interpret it, the military will not allow a government that is subservient to American interests to exist here.”
“This is the most serious military threat in the last 100 years,” he added. “We don’t want war, we want peace.”
The United States has so far rejected calls for de-escalation, and Trump answered in the affirmative last week when asked about reports that Maduro appeared to have set aside significant concessions he had offered.
