US deploys aircraft carrier to South America amid strikes on alleged drug vessels

WASHINGTON

The US announced Friday that it was deploying an aircraft carrier strike group to the Caribbean, escalating President Donald Trump’s campaign against "narco-terrorism" amid a spate of attacks on alleged drug-running boats in the region.

"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)," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell wrote on the US social media company, X.

Parnell said the move would "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."

The deployment, he added, will “enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle TCOs."

The move follows a string of US airstrikes on maritime vessels accused of smuggling narcotics — attacks that have raised questions about legality and civilian harm as tensions with regional countries also climb.

At least 10 strikes have been carried out since early September, mostly in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, killing more than 40 people.

The US Southern Command area of responsibility stretches across 31 countries including the Caribbean Sea, Central and South America, and "adjacent waters."