Venezuela On HIGH Alert, Deploys Almost 200,000 Soldiers As USS Gerald R. Ford Aircraft Carrier Nears Region
Pictured Above: USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78) transits the Strait of Gibraltar on 4th November, 2025. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Triniti Lersch).
The USS Gerald R. Ford and its three (3) accompanying warships arrived in the region on Tuesday (11th November, 2025), the U.S. Navy said in a Press Release. The ships, which were not yet in the Caribbean Sea, had already crossed into the U.S. Southern Command’s jurisdiction, a vast area that includes part of the Atlantic Ocean and drug smuggling routes in the Pacific used by cartels based in Colombia and neighboring Ecuador.
Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement, “These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle transnational criminal organizations.”
In its Press Release on Tuesday, the Navy stated the following:
WESTERN ATLANTIC OCEAN – The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, led by the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford (CVN 78), entered the U.S. Southern Command area of responsibility (USSOUTHCOM AOR), Nov. 11.
The maritime forces’ arrival comes after Secretary of War Pete Hegseth directed the Carrier Strike Group to support the President’s directive to dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations and counter narco-terrorism in defense of the Homeland.
“The enhanced U.S. force presence in the USSOUTHCOM AOR will 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,” said Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Sean Parnell. “These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations.”
With more than 4,000 Sailors and dozens of tactical aircraft aboard, Gerald R. Ford provides combatant commanders and America’s civilian leaders increased capacity to project power through sustained operations at sea. The first-in-class carrier can simultaneously catapult launch and recover fixed-wing aircraft on its flight deck, day or night, in support of tasked operations.
The carrier strike group will augment joint forces already in the area of responsibility, including the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group and embarked marine expeditionary unit, under a Joint Task Force, created to defeat and dismantle criminal networks that exploit our shared borders and maritime domains.
"Through unwavering commitment and the precise use of our forces, we stand ready to combat the transnational threats that seek to destabilize our region, said Adm. Alvin Holsey, Commander, SOUTHCOM. The USS Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group's deployment represents a critical step in reinforcing our resolve to protect the security of the Western Hemisphere and the safety of the American homeland.”
Alongside Gerald R. Ford, the Carrier strike group brings additional capable, lethal, and adaptable warfighting assets including the nine embarked squadrons of Carrier Air Wing Eight, Destroyer Squadron Two’s Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Bainbridge (DDG 96) and USS Mahan (DDG 72), and the integrated air and missile defense command ship USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81).
The embarked squadrons aboard Gerald R. Ford include Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 31, VFA 37, and VFA 87, flying the F/A-18E Super Hornet; VFA 213, flying the F/A-18F Super Hornet; Electronic Attack Squadron 142, flying the E/A-18G Growler; Airborne Command and Control Squadron 124, flying the airborne command and control E-2D Advanced Hawkeye; Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron (HSC) 9, flying the MH-60S Seahawk; Helicopter Maritime Strike Squadron (HSM) 70, flying the MH-60R Seahawk; and a detachment from Fleet Logistics Support Squadron (VRC) 40, flying the Carrier Onboard Delivery C-2A Greyhound.
The destroyers in company bring anti-air, anti-submarine, and anti-surface capabilities including the Aegis Combat System, missile vertical launch systems, and various large-mount guns. As the IAMDC, Winston S. Churchill leads the strike group’s air and ballistic-missile defense.
The U.S. Southern Command Area of Responsibility encompasses 31 countries and 12 dependencies and areas of special sovereignty. The region represents about one-sixth of the landmass of the world assigned to regional unified commands. USSOUTHCOM´s Area of Responsibility includes the land mass of Latin America south of Mexico, the waters adjacent to Central and South America, and the Caribbean Sea.
U.S. military forces are deployed to the Caribbean in support of the U.S. Southern Command mission, Department of War-directed operations, and the President's priorities to disrupt illicit drug trafficking and protect the homeland.
Meanwhile, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López said in a statement on Tuesday that Venezuela is preparing to set a maximum level of alert amid rising tensions with the U.S. The objective is to place “the entire country’s military arsenal on full operational readiness,” Padrino López said. The preparations include “massive deployment of ground, aerial, naval, riverine and missile forces” with the participation of all security forces and militia.
Padrino said on national television that Venezuela’s leader, Nicolás Maduro, ordered a massive deployment of soldiers — “almost 200,000,” he said — as part of the special operation.
Experts believe the breadth of firepower inherent to an aircraft carrier strike group — the Ford typically travels with dozens of fighter jets and an assortment of other lethal capabilities — would seem excessive for the type of strikes that U.S. forces have carried out on alleged drug boats since early September.
Carriers are strategic assets, and the United States uses its fleet of eleven (11) — many of which are in scheduled maintenance and not available to sail at any given time — for power projection and deterrence in its top-tier security concerns, notably countering China in the Indo-Pacific region and maintaining a deterrent presence in the Middle East, said Mark Cancian, a senior defense adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
“The only reason to move it there is to use it against Venezuela,” Cancian surmised, adding that the Ford’s arrival means “the shot clock has started because this is not an asset they can just keep there indefinitely. They have to use it or move it. And moving it would mean they are standing down” from a potential attack on Venezuela, he said.
The Pentagon announced on 24th October, 2025 that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had ordered the Ford to relocate to Latin America from Europe. It has been deployed from its home port in Virginia since June.
More on this as it becomes available.
This is a developing story - refresh this page for updates.
[Source: The Washington Post]
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