US Carrier Deployment Escalates Venezuela Tensions

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has accused the United States of “fabricating a new/eternal war” after Washington sent the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to the Caribbean, framing the deployment as pressure on his government. The U.S. says the carrier and increased air operations aim to disrupt narcotics trafficking and transnational criminal organizations, and U.S. forces have struck vessels they allege were involved in drug runs — actions multiple reports say have killed dozens. Maduro denies the drug-trafficking allegations, insists Venezuela does not produce cocaine, and has warned of mass resistance if the U.S. intervenes while also delivering a televised plea in broken English (“no crazy war, please”). The confrontation has been intensified by U.S. narco-terror accusations and reported bounties on associates of Maduro, public hints by President Trump of possible “land action,” and the wider context that many countries still reject the legitimacy of Maduro’s disputed 2024 election.