More than 10 US warships, including the country’s largest carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, are now stationed in the Caribbean amid escalating tensions between President Donald Trump and Venezuela.
A Marine Expeditionary Unit capable of an amphibious land invasion has also been deployed as part of efforts to stem the flow of drugs into the US from the socialist country.
“The military’s job is to defend the homeland,” Secretary of the Navy John Phelan told Fox News. “That’s exactly what we’re doing, and we’re using our best assets to defend the homeland.
“Drugs kill more Americans than we’ve ever lost in wars,” he said. “So I think at the end of the day, the president has correctly identified this as an attack on the country, which it is.”
Venezuela’s socialist president, Nicolas Maduro, is being blamed for allowing narco vessels to set off from his country for the US.
Among the 11 warships currently in the Caribbean is the USS Ford, which houses the Carrier Strike Group featuring nine carrier air wings, or more than 70 aircraft, including squadrons out of Virginia, Florida, and Washington state.
Other ships deployed to the region include the USS Iwo Jamia, a Wasp-class amphibious assault vehicle capable of carrying up to six Harrier II attack aircraft.
The USS Gravely and the USS Stockdale, two naval guided-missile destroyers, are currently operating in the Caribbean along with the larger guided-missile cruisers, the USS Lake Erie and the USS Gettysburg.
Up to 2,200 Marines, based out of Camp Lejeune and Marine Corps Air Base New River in North Carolina, are also stationed in the Caribbean.
In total, around 15,000 troops, including the Marines on ships and about 5,000 personnel at bases in Puerto Rico, are now in the region, the Conversation reported.
Roosevelt Roads naval base in Puerto Rico has been reopened as part of the buildup.
“The president is very focused on shipbuilding. He has been on me about it for a long time and continues to stay after me, which is great, because he’s committed to it and it’s really important,” Phelan said during his appearance on “My View with Lara Trump.”
“We hollowed out our manufacturing base in this country. And it’s really important that we learn how to make things. We spent the last 10 years teaching people how to code. We’re gonna spend the next 10 years teaching [people] how to use their hands, because those are going to be the important skills,” he added.