The aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford has arrived off the coast of Venezuela

Arauca, Colombia - The USS Gerald R. Ford, the most advanced aircraft carrier of the United States, has arrived in the Caribbean. A ship of enormous presence, accompanied by fighter jets and destroyers, traveling through the Anegada Passage near the British Virgin Islands. Officially it is an anti-drug operation. But anyone who understands the situation in Venezuela senses that this explanation falls short. Since early September, the US military has killed at least eighty people in attacks on boats allegedly used for drug smuggling. Twenty such operations in just a few weeks - and none of the claims has been backed up with verifiable evidence. Donald Trump speaks of “narcoterrorists.” Secretary of State Marco Rubio says the Maduro regime is nothing more than a “transshipment organization for drug trafficking.” But the government has so far provided nothing beyond words.

With the arrival of the Ford, the White House is now completing the largest concentration of American forces in the region in a generation. Around 12,000 troops, almost a dozen ships, an armada that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth calls “Operation Southern Spear.” The name alone leaves no doubt that this mission goes far beyond pursuing small boats.

The Ford is a ship normally used to intimidate hostile states or defuse looming conflicts - not to chase cartels at sea. Its jets could strike targets deep inside the country, its systems would carry a battle over long distances. It is precisely this capability that is now unsettling the region. The question being asked everywhere is no longer whether this is a show of power, but how far Trump is willing to go. While Washington insists it only wants to stop drug smuggling, Venezuela is preparing for the worst. Nicolás Maduro speaks of an “invented war pretext.” The regime has announced a large mobilization of troops and civilians to prepare for possible attacks. How much of this is actual strength and how much is political staging remains unclear. But the mere fact that this scenario is being discussed at all in Caracas shows how tense the situation has become.

At the same time, criticism abroad is growing. Human rights experts at the United Nations are publicly asking whom the United States is targeting there. Doubts have also been raised in the US Congress - even within the Republican faction. Senate Republicans recently blocked a law that would have limited the president’s ability to conduct military strikes against Venezuela. But even some of them are now demanding information, explanations, and legal clarity. Some military experts consider it possible that Trump may contemplate air strikes on targets in Venezuela. Others point out that the Ford is simply disproportionate for an operation against cartels. But that is exactly why this signal speaks so loudly: It is not just about boats in the Caribbean Sea. It is about power. About pressure. And about the question of whether the United States is prepared to expand this conflict onto Venezuelan territory.

Elizabeth Dickinson from the International Crisis Group describes the situation vividly: The ship is “the centerpiece of American strength in Latin America - and a source of concern throughout the region.” Many are now watching every step the United States takes with bated breath, because no one knows whether the line between pressure and the use of real force has already been crossed or will be crossed in the coming days. The Ford is now lying off the coast of South America. What it does next will determine whether this chapter remains a striking moment of political deterrence - or the beginning of an escalation whose outcome no one can control.

To be continued .....