Gerald Ford aircraft carrier strike group has moved into the Latin America region, US officials said, dramatically escalating a military buildup that has deepened tensions with Venezuela.
President Donald Trump ordered the deployment of the Ford last month, adding to the eight warships, a nuclear submarine and F-35 aircraft already in the Caribbean.
The Ford, which was commissioned in 2017, is the United States' newest aircraft carrier and the world's largest, with more than 5,000 sailors aboard.
The Pentagon confirmed the arrival, which was first reported by Reuters news agency, saying in a statement it would help "disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations."
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has repeatedly claimed that the US buildup is designed to drive him from power.
Washington in August doubled its reward for information leading to Maduro's arrest to $50 million, accusing him of links to drug trafficking and criminal groups that Maduro denies.
The US military has carried out at least 19 strikes so far against suspected drug vessels in the Caribbean and off the Pacific coasts of Latin America, killing at least 76 people.
Russia slams 'unacceptable' US strikes
When the US first announced the Ford's deployment, Maduro warned that if the US ever intervened in the country, "millions of men and women with rifles would march across the country."
Tensions between the United States and Venezuela's neighbor, Colombia, have also spiked in recent weeks, with Trump and Colombian President Gustavo Petro trading barbs.
Meanwhile, Russia has denounced as illegal and "unacceptable" US strikes on boats from Venezuela — a Moscow ally — that Washington claims are transporting drugs.
"This is how, in general, lawless countries act, as well as those who consider themselves above the law," Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in televised remarks, questioning what he called the United States' "pretext of fighting drugs".
Lavrov said the United States had been "destroying (the boats) without trial or investigation, and not only without trial and investigation, but without presenting any facts to anyone".
The US strikes off Venezuela in international waters amount to "extrajudicial executions," a group of independent United Nations experts have said.
US-Russia relations have increasingly soured in recent weeks, as Trump has voiced frustration with Moscow and the lack of a resolution to the Ukraine war.
