USS Gerald R. Ford Strike Group Ordered To Carribean Amidst U.S. Strikes On Alleged Drug Boats
The Department of Defense announced Friday that the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group would be deployed to the Caribbean, shortly after it announced it had conducted a tenth strike on what it claims are boats smuggling drugs from Venezuela to the United States.
In a statement posted on the X social media network, chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said:
In support of the President’s directive to dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) and counter narco-terrorism in defense of the Homeland, the Secretary of War has directed the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group and embarked carrier air wing to the U.S. Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM) area of responsibility (AOR).
The enhanced U.S. force presence in the USSOUTHCOM AOR will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere. These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle TCOs.”
The USS Gerald R. Ford and its carrier strike group is currently in the Adriatic Sea.
Earlier on Friday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth posted a video on his official X social media account of what he claimed to be the first nighttime strike on an alleged drug smuggling boat, saying that six Tren de Aragua “narco-terrorists” had been killed in the attack.
On Thursday, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro told representatives of labor unions aligned with his autocratic government that he did not want a “crazy war”. “Yes peace, yes peace forever, peace forever. No crazy war, please!” said Maduro in English.
The Trump administration has accused Maduro’s government of involvement with the drug smuggling boats it says it is targeting, claiming that the Tren de Aragua transnational crime organization operates under the control of Maduro’s government.
Experts have questioned the legality of the strikes, with several experts appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council saying earlier this week that the strikes violated the international law of the sea and amounted to extrajudicial executions, in addition to violating the United Nations charter and Venezuela’s sovereignty.
Trump has claimed that he does not need a declaration of war to fight drug cartels on land. “I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country. OK?” said Trump on Thursday at the White House. “We’re going to kill them.”
While Democrat senators have pushed for a War Powers Resolution that would require Congress to authorize further strikes, a bid by Senators Tim Kaine and Adam Schiff on October 8 to force a vote was blocked by Republican senators.