"White House officials have sought to walk back President Donald Trump's repeated threats against Venezuela in recent days - even as the Department of Defense has continue to strike boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific - but officials in the South American country on Tuesday took the arrival of a US aircraft carrier in the region seriously despite the administration's claims that it won't target Venezuela directly."
"Venezuela's military deployment comes weeks after US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the Ford to relocate from Europe to Latin America following several military strikes on boats in the Caribbean and Pacific that the Trump administration has claimed are meant to stop drug trafficking out of Venezuela - despite the fact that US intelligence agencies and United Nations experts agree that the country plays virtually no role in the trafficking of fentanyl, the top cause of drug overdoses in the US."
About 15,000 U.S. troops are deployed in the area where tensions rose after boat strikes began in September. The USS Gerald R. Ford entered waters near Latin America accompanied by three warships. Venezuela placed its entire military arsenal on "full operational readiness," and President Nicolás Maduro ordered nearly 200,000 soldiers deployed, approving massive ground, aerial, naval, riverine, and missile forces. The Ford was relocated from Europe after several U.S. strikes on boats the administration said targeted drug trafficking. U.S. intelligence and U.N. experts say Venezuela plays virtually no role in fentanyl trafficking. At least 76 people have been killed in the strikes.
#venezuela-military-mobilization #us-naval-presence #boat-strikes #fentanyl-trafficking #regional-tensions
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