Pressure is mounting in the Caribbean amid growing signs that the United States may escalate its campaign of military strikes against suspected drug-trafficking boats in those waters and the eastern Pacific at any moment. Southern Command released the first official photos on Friday of the world's largest aircraft carrier, the Gerald Ford, operating in its area of responsibility, one day after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced on social media the start of a new major operation against"narco-terrorists" in the Western Hemisphere.
For now, details of that operation are very limited. In his message on the social network X, which he has not followed up on, the Pentagon chief indicated that the name of the new operation is Southern Spear, but he did not provide further information about what kind of missions it will carry out. Nor did he say whether it will include the “phase two” that US President Donald Trump has spoken of in his campaign against drug trafficking. This would include, he indicated, ground targets as part of the pressure tactics against the Chavista regime in Venezuela, whose president, Nicolás Maduro, he accuses of being part of the drug cartels.
The US Department of Defense had already announced in January an operation with the same name, which planned the deployment of robots and drones in the fight against drug trafficking in the Americas.
📍Western Atlantic Ocean
— U.S. Southern Command (@Southcom) November 14, 2025
In the #SOUTHCOM region, Carrier Strike Group Twelve delivers presence with purpose - deterring illicit networks, disrupting transnational threats, safeguarding the Caribbean, and defending the homeland. @CVN78_GRFord pic.twitter.com/zG4IVQS2ln
The Pentagon declined to provide further details and simply referred to Hegseth's social media post. In it, the Secretary of Defense stated: “President Trump directed us to act, and the War Department [Hegseth's preferred name for the Department of Defense] is delivering. Today I am announcing Operation Southern Spear.”
“Led by Joint Task Force Southern Command and U.S. Southern Command, this mission defends our homeland, expels narco-terrorists from our hemisphere, and protects our homeland from the drugs that are killing our people,” declared the head of the U.S. Armed Forces. “The Western Hemisphere is America’s neighborhood, and we will protect it.”
Hegseth's cryptic statement has unleashed a frenzy of speculation about the possibility that the United States is preparing some kind of attack against targets inside Venezuela following the arrival of the Gerald Ford. The aircraft carrier, the most modern in the world and the crown jewel of the US fleet, was recalled to the Caribbean on October 24, leaving the Mediterranean and the area of responsibility of the Central Command—where it was in charge of the Middle East—without an aircraft carrier in its waters despite the delicate geopolitical situation in the region, where the ceasefire in Gaza remains fragile.
The Gerald Ford, which can carry up to 90 combat aircraft and has a complement of 5,000 troops, is accompanied by its escort group, which includes three destroyers armed with long-range missiles. Among these are Tomahawk missiles, which Ukraine unsuccessfully requested from Trump, arguing that they would allow them to reach targets deep inside Russian territory.
Military options
Hegseth's announcement came a day after he and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Dan Caine led the weekly intelligence briefing that Trump receives on Wednesday. During the briefing, they outlined the US military options for action in the Caribbean and Venezuela, though Trump has not yet made a final decision.
Under the pretext of combating drugs entering the United States and killing tens of thousands of people each year, the Trump Administration has launched a military campaign against Latin American cartels. It has designated several of them as international terrorist organizations, placing them in the same category as the Islamic State or the Houthi rebels in Yemen. Arguing that their members are enemy combatants, the administration considers itself to be engaged in a “direct, non-international armed conflict” with these organizations.
In August, Washington began a military deployment in the region, which, with the arrival of the Gerald Ford, now accounts for 20% of its warships deployed worldwide in international waters near Venezuela. The aircraft carrier and its escort group join a flotilla that already included a dozen ships—including a submarine—and F-35 fighter jets. Following its arrival, the number of active U.S. troops in the region also rises to nearly 15,000. This is an accumulation of forces not seen in Latin America for decades, and one that Washington reserves for the most dangerous conflicts.
Since September 2, US forces have carried out at least 20 attacks against suspected drug-running boats, killing at least 80 people, in international waters of both the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific. The UN considers these attacks to be violations of international law, an opinion shared by numerous experts, human rights organizations—including Amnesty International—and US lawmakers. Adding to the pressure have been bomber training flights near the Venezuelan coast and Trump's authorization for the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela.
The Pentagon has also deployed ground forces to Panama, the country it invaded in 1989 to overthrow the regime of Manuel Noriega and which Trump had threatened before taking office with intervention to regain control of the canal connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. Both Washington and Panama have denied that this deployment is related to the activities in the Caribbean.
The military deployment has strained relations between the United States and Colombia and its president, Gustavo Petro, whom Trump has accused of being a “thug” and a “drug trafficker,” and against whom he has imposed economic sanctions. In turn, the Colombian president has described the attacks on the boats as “extrajudicial killings,” a term also used by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. This week, the High Commissioner announced the suspension of US intelligence cooperation for this reason.
In Venezuela, where Maduro believes the US deployment is aimed at removing him from power, the president has called on the population to prepare for a potential armed struggle and has ordered the creation of defense commands comprised of citizens, government officials, and military personnel. He also announced the deployment of 200,000 troops and the mobilization of land, air, naval, riverine, and missile forces to counter a possible US attack.
From Canada, where a G-7 foreign ministers' meeting was held this week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio asserted that his country's military campaign is focused on combating drug trafficking."It's what [Trump] authorized, and it's what the military is doing. That's why our troops are there," he insisted. But he also clarified that Washington does not recognize Maduro as the legitimate president of Venezuela and believes that the Chavista regime openly cooperates with drug cartels.
Opposition leader María Corina Machado, recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize and a public defender of U.S. actions in the Caribbean, declared on Wednesday that the “decisive hours” of a “historic moment” have arrived. She did not explicitly mention the U.S. military campaign or its possible intentions in Venezuela, but she did call for a “peaceful transition,” a statement that has further fueled speculation.
