The Pentagon announced an aircraft carrier deployment near South America on Friday.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group to the US Southern Command.
Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the move aims to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities.
The USS Gerald R. Ford sails with five destroyers in its strike group.
The carrier currently operates in the Mediterranean Sea.
Sending a carrier intensifies military presence in the Caribbean and off Venezuela.
Strikes, Targets, and Tough Rhetoric
Hegseth said the military conducted a tenth strike on a suspected drug boat hours earlier.
Officials reported six fatalities from the latest strike, raising the total to at least 43 since early September.
Hegseth blamed the attacked vessel on the Tren de Aragua gang.
His post linked the operation to a wider campaign against the gang from a Venezuelan prison origin.
The administration has accelerated strikes from weeks apart to several in a single week.
Hegseth boasted the latest attack occurred in international waters and marked the first night strike.
He vowed to treat narco-terrorists like Al-Qaeda and to map, track, hunt, and kill them.
Regional Responses and Strategic Signals
The White House frames the actions as anti-drug trafficking measures, not regime change.
Critics and analysts argue the operations also send political messages to regional governments.
The administration labeled Tren de Aragua a foreign terrorist organization and blamed it for local violence.
Officials said at least four targeted boats originated from Venezuela, according to the Republican team.
The military flew hypersonic heavy bombers near Venezuela’s coast this week.
President Nicolás Maduro accused the United States of plotting to oust him.
Maduro praised security forces and militias for coastal defence exercises along 2,000 kilometres of shoreline.
He insisted publicly he prefers peace while showcasing defensive readiness on state television.
Analyst Elizabeth Dickinson said regional leaders hear a clear message: drugs serve as an excuse.
She argued the US uses military force to pressure countries that resist its objectives.
Hegseth compared the anti-narcotics campaign to the post-9/11 war on terror in recent remarks.
The administration declared drug cartels unlawful combatants earlier this month, citing wartime legal authority.
Reporters asked the president whether he would seek a congressional war declaration against cartels.
He replied he did not plan to seek one and said the US would kill people smuggling drugs.
