US Carrier Arrives in Caribbean Near Venezuela

The United States’ flagship aircraft carrier has arrived in the Caribbean as Donald Trump continues to mass military firepower close to Venezuela.

The US’s largest and most advanced carrier strike group, led by the USS Gerald R Ford, is now within striking distance of the country as tensions between Washington and Caracas mount.

The US Southern Command said the strike group’s deployment to the Caribbean Sea followed Trump’s “directive to dismantle transnational criminal organisations and counter narco-terrorism in defence of the Homeland”.

Washington has claimed that the move is part of an anti-drug trafficking campaign, but speculation continues to mount that the president is considering military intervention against Nicolás Maduro, Venezuela’s authoritarian president.

The nuclear-powered USS Gerald R Ford, which operates F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter planes, is the world’s largest aircraft carrier. It is joined by two guided-missile destroyers and other support vessels and aircraft.

Washington has built up the most significant US military force in the region for generations after blowing up 20 boats that it said were ferrying drugs.

Relations between Maduro and Trump have deteriorated sharply since the president’s second term began, driven by American accusations that the Venezuelan government is complicit in drugs being trafficked into the US.

Pete Hegseth, Trump’s Pentagon chief, said last week that a new mission, codenamed Operation Southern Spear, would remove “narco-terrorists from our hemisphere”.

Amid the mounting American pressure against him, Maduro was filmed singing part of John Lennon’s song Imagine during a political rally, urging his supporters “to do everything for peace, as John Lennon used to say”.

Maduro, an authoritarian Left-wing leader, whom the US does not recognise as a legitimate president, then sang “imagine all the people”, accompanied by chords from the 1971 hit, and made the peace symbol with his hands.

The 62-year-old described the song as “an anthem for all eras and generations” and asked young people to study its lyrics. He said Lennon’s message was “an inspiration for all times” and called him “a gift for humanity”.

Carlos Gimenez, a Republican congressman from Florida, meanwhile claimed Maduro’s government may be planning to destroy parts of its own infrastructure.

He said: “We are tracking reports that the Maduro narco regime may be preparing to sabotage key Venezuelan infrastructure, including major bridges, tunnels, and refineries, and later blame the United States or the democratic opposition.

“While unverified, these claims match the desperate tactics of a collapsing dictatorship. The United States will continue to stand firmly with the Venezuelan people against tyranny, corruption, and any attempt by the regime to manufacture chaos or manipulate the truth for political survival.”

The White House has given no clear signals about its military intentions, but Trump told reporters at the weekend: “I sort of have made up my mind – yeah. I mean, I can’t tell you what it would be, but I sort of have.”

The president and his top team have been briefed on options for potential strikes on land targets, including on Maduro’s own protection team or inner circle, as well as to seize the country’s oil fields.

However, privately aides have said he is wary of anything could turn into an embarrassing failure or put American troops at risk.

A sustained military campaign risks angering much of Trump’s political base, which is opposed to the US being drawn into costly foreign entanglements.

A senior European official told the New York Times that US officials had insisted to diplomatic allies that the deployment was only designed to raise the temperature to see how Maduro would react.

Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, has said any military operation would be focused purely on the drug trade. In private meetings last week with House and Senate leaders, he reportedly said the government had no ambition for regime change.

Trump has also reportedly asked about Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. Venezuelan officials hoping to avert a clash earlier this year offered the Trump administration a dominant stake in the country’s oil and other mineral wealth.

The offer was discussed for months, but fell through in October.