U.S. carrier strike force positioned in waters near Venezuela

Nov. 11 (UPI) -- A carrier strike group has arrived at an undisclosed location within the U.S. Southern Command's control amid tensions with Venezuela and drug cartels.

The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier and supporting vessels have deployed in waters in or near the Caribbean Sea and western Atlantic Ocean after the Defense Department ordered the strike force there on Oct. 24, USNI News reported Tuesday.

The U.S. Navy's Fourth Fleet confirmed the carrier strike group's arrival in waters near Latin America, where the U.S. military has targeted and sunk numerous alleged drug-smuggling vessels in deadly drone strikes.

"These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle transnational criminal organizations," Defense Department spokesman Sean Parnell told the New York Post.

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He said the deployment enhances the nation's ability 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."

Among vessels escorting the Ford are three guided-missile destroyers and two conventional destroyers as part of the carrier strike force, according to USNI News.

The strike force joins two U.S. Navy destroyers, a guided-missile cruiser and three amphibious warships that already were stationed in the area.

The U.S. military has conducted 19 aerial strikes against alleged vessels carrying illicit drugs in the Caribbean Sea and the eastern Pacific Ocean.

The strikes have killed at least 76 crewmembers that the Pentagon said were members of transnational criminal organizations, including those that President Donald Trump has designated as terrorist organizations.

Many of the vessels originated from Venezuela, whose president, Nicolas Maduro, has been accused by Trump of engaging in narcotics trafficking.

The Trump administration in August raised to $50 million its reward for information leading to the capture of Maduro to try him on charges that include drug trafficking.

Maduro has threatened a local uprising if the United States initiated regime change in Venezuela, whose military has conducted flybys of U.S. warships since the drug vessel strikes began Sept. 2.