(The Center Square) — The Navy’s largest and newest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald Ford, has arrived in the Caribbean region, according to spotters in the region.
U.S. Naval Institute News cited boat spotters in Puerto Rico who eyed the destroyer, USS Bainbridge, on Tuesday. The Bainbridge, part of the Gerald Ford aircraft carrier strike group, was traveling with the carrier.
The arrival of the Ford in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility signals a major buildup of naval and military presence in the region as the Trump administration continues targeting marine vessels suspected of trafficking narcotics headed for the U.S.
Over the weekend, The Center Square reported that several naval ships are already in the region, including the USS Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group, according to the USNI. The Iwo Jima is a Wasp-class amphibious ship, one of the larger classes of ships in the Navy.
The Iwo Jima Amphibious Ready Group deployed in August, carrying over 4,500 sailors and Marines, according to the Department of War. The group includes the Iwo Jima, USS Fort Lauderdale, USS San Antonio and the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit.
As of early last week, the institute reported that, in addition to the group, three Navy guided-missile destroyers are operating in the Caribbean, including the USS Jason Dunham, USS Gravely, and USS Stockdale. In addition, USNI reported the USS Lake Erie (CG-70) and the USS Wichita (LCS-13) are operating in the Caribbean.
The buildup of Navy ships in the region points to the Trump administration’s commitment to prioritizing targeting narco-terrorists. Still, it could also signal a shift in the U.S.’s focus on potential adversarial threats in Latin America.
Neither the Department of War nor the Navy has confirmed or commented on the arrival of the Ford in the Caribbean.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told The Center Square last month at an event in the White House that the Department of War is keeping its eyes on adversaries in the region after The Center Square asked the secretary and the president if they had plans to expand U.S. Naval operations in Puerto Rico, specifically Roosevelt Roads, a Navy base closed in 2004.
“We’re familiar with the location that you’re referring to, and we will make sure that we’re properly placed in order to deal with the contingency we’re dealing with there, and also any ways in which other countries would attempt to be involved also, so we can walk and chew gum. We’re definitely keeping our eyes on near peer adversaries at the same time,” Hegseth told The Center Square.
The secretary’s response cemented the administration’s “America first” policy, which is beginning to shift focus to its “own backyard.”
“But we think sending a message on these cartels, these narco-terrorists, is an important, important inside our hemisphere, which for far too long other presidents, as the president pointed out, they’ve ignored our own backyard and allowed other countries to increase their influence here, which only threatens the American people. We’re changing that,” Hegseth concluded.
The naval buildup in the region could highlight concerns in recent years that Venezuela, under the dictatorship of socialist Nicolas Maduro, has aligned the country with American adversaries, such as Russia, China and Iran.
In 2022, Venezuela hosted military drills with countries including Russia, China and Iran.
The Center for Strategic and International Studies warns that Latin America is ripe for U.S. adversarial influences.
“While Western observers have focused their attention on joint connivances of Russia and Iran in Eastern Europe, Eurasia, and the Middle East, where Russo-Iranian military-security operations directly affect U.S. and European interests, the Western Hemisphere is not isolated from the two countries’ quests for global influence. In fact, in many ways it is an essential piece of the puzzle. First, both Iran and Russia perceive Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) as a fertile ground for exploiting popular resentment vis-à-vis the United States and the ‘collective West,’ which they – rather successfully – harness to advance their view of a multipolar world,” according to CSIS.