He Southern Command of the United States, one of the ten combat commands of the War Department The American government announced new military test exercises in the Caribbean Sea on Tuesday, amid pressure from the North American country on the Venezuelan regime led by Nicolás Maduro.
The maneuvers were framed in the Operation Southern Lancethe mission that aims to eliminate narcoterrorists from the Western Hemisphere and protect the United States from the drugs that are killing its population. “The Western Hemisphere is the United States’ neighborhood and we will protect it,” said Pentagon head Pete Hegseth, via x.
“AV-8B Harrier II aircraft of the United States Marine Corps with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit conducted this exercise real shot from the USS Iwo Jima in the Caribbean Sea. U.S. military forces are deployed to the Caribbean in support of Operation Southern Spear“Details the official user of the Southern Command on the aforementioned social network.
The same marine unit carried out “a reconnaissance and surveillance exercise at Camp Santiago (Puerto Rico)” on the same Tuesday, while other members of military personnel trained to operate on land and sea opened an armored door during an assault maneuver.
The maneuvers coincide aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Fordthe largest and most advanced of the fleet USAentered this Sunday at Caribbean Sea as part of the military reinforcement ordered by Washington in the region.
The warship capped the largest concentration of American military power in the region in decades, with around 12,000 soldiers distributed on almost a dozen Navy ships under Operation Southern Spear.
The attack group led by Ford, composed of squadrons of fighter aircraft and guided missile destroyers, crossed the Anegada Pass near the British Virgin Islands on Sunday morning. The Navy detailed in a statement that this mobilization represents one of the largest demonstrations of American force in the Caribbean and adjacent areas in recent times.
Paul Lanzilottathe rear admiral who leads the Ford carrier strike group, said he will reinforce the already considerable force of American warships to ”protect the security and prosperity of our nation against narcoterrorism in the Western Hemisphere“.
The arrival of USS Gerald R. Ford to the region was announced a day after the Secretary of War, Pete Hegsethreported the death of six people in two operations carried out on Sunday against vessels suspected of drug smuggling in the eastern Pacific Ocean. According to official data, these incidents bring the total number of deaths to 76 people in a total of 19 attacks carried out both in the Pacific and in the Caribbean Sea since the beginning of September.
The US deployment in the region includes destroyers, B-52 bombers, nuclear submarines and 10,000 troops, which represents sustained pressure with no intention of immediate territorial conquest.
Sean Parnellchief Pentagon spokesperson, said in a statement on Tuesday, November 11, that the aircraft carrier enhances “the United States’ ability to detect, monitor and disrupt illicit actors and activities that violate the security and prosperity of the United States national territory and our security in the Western Hemisphere.”
