US aircraft carrier arrives in Caribbean in show of military power to Maduro
The US has put on a display of military might in the Caribbean Sea in the latest development in the fight against cartels smuggling drugs to North America.
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The US sent its most advanced aircraft carrier in a display aimed at Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro regime.
The USS Gerald R Ford arrived along with other warships as part of a US military build-up.
The US has killed at least 80 people since early September with attacks on small boats carrying drugs to the Caribbean and eastern Pacific Ocean.
Elizabeth Dickinson, the International Crisis Group’s senior analyst for the Andes region, said: “This is the anchor of what it means to have U.S. military power once again in Latin America.
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“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 US is to really use military force.”
Donald Trump has indicated that military action would expand beyond strikes by sea, saying the US would "stop the drugs coming in by land".
The “Operation Southern Spear" mission includes nearly a dozen navy ships and about 12,000 sailors and marines.
Rear Admiral 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".