"The US navy has announced that the USS Gerald R Ford, regarded as the world's newest and largest aircraft carrier, has entered the area of responsibility of the US Southern Command, which covers Latin America and the Caribbean. The deployment of the ship and the strike group it leads which includes dozens of aircraft and destroyer ships had been announced nearly three weeks ago, and its arrival marks an escalation in the military buildup between the US and Venezuela."
"Sean Parnell, the chief Pentagon spokesperson, said in a statement released by the US navy that the arrival of the USS Gerald R Ford, with more than 4,000 sailors and dozens of tactical aircraft aboard, will bolster US capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities in the region. These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle transnational criminal organisations, he added."
The USS Gerald R Ford, the world's newest and largest aircraft carrier, entered the US Southern Command area covering Latin America and the Caribbean. The carrier's strike group, which includes dozens of aircraft and destroyer ships, was announced for deployment nearly three weeks earlier. Venezuela declared a massive deployment of land, sea, air, river and missile forces alongside civilian militia to counter the naval presence. The carrier joined other warships, a nuclear-powered submarine and Puerto Rico-based aircraft to create the largest US military presence in the region since 1989. The US frames the buildup as part of a drug interdiction campaign that has included airstrikes killing at least 76 people. Pentagon officials say the carrier will boost capacity to detect, monitor and disrupt illicit actors. Many analysts view the military actions as pressure on President Maduro, who called the deployment a fabricated war and the continent's greatest threat.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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