The U.S. military deployed its most advanced aircraft carrier to the waters off Venezuela Friday.

The USS Gerald R. Ford and its strike group was ordered Friday, Oct. 24, to deploy to U.S. Southern Command to “bolster U.S. capacity 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.” Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

The deployment comes amid the U.S. military conducting strikes on boats suspected of smuggling drugs to the U.S. from Venezuela.

A total of 43 have been killed in the strikes, according to a report by the Associated Press.

The aircraft carrier is named after former President and Navy veteran Gerald R. Ford who was bo

See Full Page