Cuba Denounces Deployment of US Aircraft Carrier USS Gerald Ford in the Caribbean

The Cuban government denounced this Saturday the United States' decision to deploy the USS Gerald Ford aircraft carrier to the Caribbean, considering it a "serious danger" and an "enormous threat of military aggression" against its ally, Venezuela.

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez stated on social media that this military movement responds to the "false pretext of combating drug trafficking" from South America to North America under the banner of the war on drugs.

"We denounce the deployment of an aircraft carrier strike group in the Caribbean Sea, under the false pretext of combating drug trafficking in this region. It constitutes a serious danger to the Zone of Peace in Latin America and the Caribbean, and an enormous threat of military aggression against Venezuela," Rodríguez argued.

The Pentagon announced this Friday the deployment of the USS Gerald Ford, the largest in the US fleet, to the Caribbean Sea, amid tensions with Venezuela over military strikes against boats allegedly carrying drugs.

US Secretary of Defense Mark Esper directed the deployment of the aircraft carrier and its strike group to the US Southern Command's area of responsibility "in support of the President's directive to dismantle transnational criminal organizations," Pentagon spokesman Jonathan Hoffman explained in a statement.

According to the spokesman, this deployment "will enhance U.S. ability to detect, monitor, and dismantle illicit actors and activities that threaten the security and prosperity of the American people."

The Gerald Ford and its strike group join the contingent deployed since the summer in the Caribbean under the premise of combating drug trafficking. This contingent includes three amphibious assault and transport ships, F-35B fighter jets, P-8 patrol aircraft, and MQ-9 drones operating from a base in Puerto Rico.

In recent weeks, the Donald Trump Administration has destroyed about a dozen vessels in the Caribbean and the Pacific, killing several people, near Venezuela and Colombia. This has escalated tensions with those countries, which denounce the actions as extrajudicial killings.

Tensions are particularly high with Venezuela, as Trump has ordered the CIA to conduct covert operations within that country, while the government of Nicolás Maduro denounces that the United States intends to carry out attacks on Venezuelan territory.