The U.S. Navy’s Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, led by its flagship aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, left, operates in the Caribbean region on Nov. 13, 2025. (Tajh Payne/U.S. Navy)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. military has steadily amassed troops, naval and air assets in the Caribbean Sea to strike alleged drug traffickers.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth last month announced the deployment of the Ford Carrier Strike Group, and the USS Gerald R. Ford, along with accompanying ships USS Mahan, USS Bainbridge and USS Winston S. Churchill arrived last weekend, concentrating nearly 20% of the Navy’s deployed warships in the region.
The strike group joined other ships in the Caribbean, including the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group and its embarked Marine expeditionary unit.
Also patrolling the region are guided missile cruisers USS Gettysburg and USS Lake Erie, and destroyers USS Gravely and USS Stockdale, a Navy official confirmed Wednesday. The official was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on the condition of anonymity. There are no ships in the Atlantic Ocean in the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility, the official said.
Air assets include P-8 Poseidon Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Aircraft and a squadron of F-35s, a defense official said Thursday.
Also in the region: AV-8B Harrier II’s with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit. The jets were conducting a live-fire ordnance exercise from the USS Iwo Jima in the Caribbean Sea, U.S. Southern Command said in a video posted on X. The Marine Corps plans to retire all Harriers from its inventory by the end of next year.
The U.S. has conducted at least 21 strikes in SOUTHCOM since September. The death toll from the strikes is up to 83 people; the Mexican navy suspended its search for a survivor of a strike in late October.
Hegseth has formally named the mission Operation Southern Spear, emphasizing the growing significance and permanence of the military’s presence in the region.
The operations have been conducted without congressional authorization, prompting criticism from legal experts and Democrats in Congress that the administration is intentionally targeting civilians who may be suspected of crimes but are not combatants.
Adm. Alvin Holsey, the head of U.S. Southern Command, announced in October he would retire by the end of 2025, less than a year into his tenure.
Shortly after taking office, President Donald Trump designated several drug cartels as terrorist organizations, including Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua. His administration has asserted that the U.S. is in an “armed conflict” with cartels and will treat their members as “unlawful combatants.”
The State Department on Sunday said it intends to designate Cartel de los Soles as a foreign terrorist organization, effective Nov. 24.
Trump on Monday did not rule out military action against Venezuela despite bringing up a potential diplomatic opening with leader Nicolás Maduro, who has insisted that a U.S. military buildup and strikes on alleged drug boats near his South American country are designed to push him out of office.
“I don’t rule out anything. We just have to take care of Venezuela,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office a day after he first floated the possibility of having “discussions” with Maduro.
Trump has signed off on CIA plans for covert measures inside Venezuela, operations that could be meant to prepare a battlefield for further action, The New York Times reported. The Pentagon is also planning for strikes on military units close to Maduro.
The president held multiple meetings in the White House Situation Room last week to discuss Venezuela and review options with his senior advisers.
