The USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group entered the Caribbean Sea on Sunday, according to a US Navy press release. The aircraft carrier and three accompanying destroyers have been in the western Atlantic Ocean since Nov. 11 as they moved southwest toward the Caribbean. The ships entered the Caribbean through the Arenada Passage, the body of water that separates the Virgin Islands from Anguilla.
The four ships in the strike group join the seven others that have been operating in the Caribbean in recent months in what is known as Operation Southern Spear, targeting Latin American drug cartels, according to the Trump administration.
The aircraft carrier has more than 60 aircraft on board, most of them fighter jets, raising the question of how they can be employed in operations against drug cartels, which has raised concerns that Venezuelan ground targets could be next.
The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, seen in the North Sea during NATO’s Neptune Strike 2025 exercise, Sept. 24, 2025, in the North Sea.
Jonathan Klein/AFP via Getty Images, FILE
There are currently 15,000 US military forces operating in the Caribbean, the largest such presence in decades.
The government of Trinidad and Tobago announced Friday that starting Sunday, some of the 2,200 Marines from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) aboard three amphibious ships would begin joint training on the islands on Sunday.
At its closest point, Trinidad and Tobago is just 30 miles off the coast of Venezuela.
Some of the MEU helicopters will participate in the training that will take place during the afternoon and evening hours in rural and urban areas.
-Luis Martínez of ABC News
