Particle.news
Download on the App Store

U.S. Sends USS Gerald R. Ford to Caribbean as Venezuela Stages Nationwide Drills

The deployment is billed as a counternarcotics mission that is testing alliances after the UK curtailed intelligence sharing over legal concerns.

Overview

  • U.S. Southern Command said the Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group entered its area of responsibility on November 11.
  • Pentagon statements describe the mission as targeting transnational criminal groups and so‑called narcoterrorism.
  • The carrier is operating with four F/A‑18E Super Hornet squadrons and is escorted by three guided‑missile destroyers.
  • Venezuela’s defense ministry announced large-scale exercises across the country, mobilizing land, naval, river, air and missile forces in a sovereignty defense plan.
  • CNN reported the UK has suspended sharing intelligence on suspected Caribbean trafficking vessels, citing worries about potential unlawful strikes linked to earlier reported attacks that killed 76 people.