Overview
- USS Gerald R. Ford transited the Strait of Gibraltar into the Atlantic en route to U.S. Southern Command, defense officials confirmed Tuesday.
- The carrier will join a regional buildup that includes the Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, destroyers such as USS Bainbridge, and F-35 fighters staged in Puerto Rico.
- Southern Command records indicate this is the first operational carrier deployment to Latin America in more than three decades.
- U.S. forces have carried out at least 16 lethal strikes on suspected drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, with 66 reported dead.
- Venezuela has placed its forces on alert as senators advance war-powers challenges and the U.N. human rights chief condemns the boat strikes as unlawful.