The moment a $20 billion killing machine steamed south: Trump unleashes extraordinary weapon against cartels in naval declaration to reshape the hemisphere

Donald Trump has ordered the world’s largest aircraft carrier to the Caribbean in a major escalation in his war against Venezuelan narco-terrorists.

USS Gerald R. Ford will join U.S. Southern Command’s deployment, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Friday.

The $20 billion, 1,090-foot ship, which can carry more than 75 fighter jets, operates as part of a carrier strike group consisting of a cruiser, three destroyers and nine squadrons of aircraft.

Parnell said in a statement that it would “enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and weaken and dismantle cartels.”

The 100,000-ton warship joins the largest American force deployed to the Caribbean since the Cold War, including nuclear submarines, F-35 fighter jets, MQ-9 Reaper drones, P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance planes and B-52 bombers.

The emergency deployment comes after Trump declared America was currently in ‘armed conflict’ with cartel forces, giving his commanders wide latitude to hunt smugglers beyond US waters.

Despite warnings from Democratic lawmakers that the president was committing treason and was drifting toward a covert conflict on foreign soil, the Pentagon established a new joint task force under U.S. Southern Command.

Early Friday, Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced a new attack on a narco-terrorist boat in the area, killing six alleged drug smugglers.

Video released by Pentagon shows ‘deadly kinetic attack’ on ship operated by notorious Tren de Aragua cartel

‘If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you the same way we treat Al Qaeda. “Day or night, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you,” Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said in a statement.

The ‘deadly kinetic attack’ targeted a ship operated by the notorious Tren de Aragua cartel, which is flooding America with the deadly synthetic opioid fentanyl.

‘If you are a narco-terrorist smuggling drugs in our hemisphere, we will treat you the same way we treat Al Qaeda. “Night or day, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you,” Hegseth said in a statement.

The US has launched ten deadly attacks on drug smuggling boats since the beginning of September, killing 43 cartel gangsters.

Among America’s fleet in the Caribbean, a ‘ghost ship’ belonging to the US Special Forces, which alarmed defense experts, also moved to the region at the end of last month.

The innocently named MV Ocean Trader, which often sails without announcing its location, is a converted commercial vessel designed to accommodate normal shipping traffic for clandestine operations.

The U.S. Military Sealift Command confirmed in late September that the ship was currently deployed in the Caribbean, but its mission was not disclosed, according to the armed forces publication Task & Purpose. U.S. Special Operations Command declined to comment.

Trump sparked concern on Capitol Hill last month when he informed Congress that the United States was in an official gunfight with drug cartels.

This allows the president to treat cartel gangsters as ‘unlawful combatants’, meaning they can be killed or arrested without trial.

The United States currently has approximately 10,000 troops in the Caribbean; these include the largest force since the Cold War, including multiple warships, nuclear submarines, F-35 fighter jets, MQ-9 Reaper drones, P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance planes and B-52 bombers. The incident in the fleet that caused alarm among defense experts was the presence of a ‘ghost ship’ belonging to the US Special Forces that departed for the region at the end of last month.

Venezuelan military patrol around the Simon Bolivar International Bridge on the Colombia-Venezuela border, seen from Villa del Rosario, Colombia, on October 16

The US military service includes the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, known as the ‘Night Stalkers’. Secret unit conducts missions for Green Berets, Navy SEALs, Delta Force and other elite commandos

The attacks primarily target smugglers in Venezuela, where socialist dictator Nicolas Maduro is not recognized as legitimate by Washington.

Maduro claims he has mobilized millions of troops and flooded the airwaves with propaganda that Trump is a bloodthirsty fascist planning to invade.

The president warned Maduro last week that he would get better “Don’t make fun of America” ​​while speaking to journalists white house.

Military experts say the true size of Maduro’s army is just 125,000 soldiers, and his rusty Soviet-era hardware stands no chance against America’s war machine.

Troops deployed include Trump heading to Caribbean It is the Army’s 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment, known as the ‘Night Stalkers’.

The elite aviation unit provides precision air support to special operations forces, including Green Berets, Navy SEALs and Delta Force.

Two of the famous Blackhawks were shot down in Somalia in 1993 during Operation Gothic Serpent; This led to one of the most intense urban conflicts in modern history and was immortalized in the movie Black Hawk Dawn.

The storied unit has been involved in extensive counterterrorism operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria in recent years.

Known for their ability to strike undetected in the hours of darkness, Night Stalkers represent the aviation backbone of U.S. special operations, bringing stealth and precision.

Its soldiers proudly wear patches bearing the regimental slogans: ‘Night Stalkers Do Not Give Up’ and ‘Death Waits in the Dark’.

They use attack and attack configurations of highly modified Chinook, Black Hawk and Little Bird helicopters.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro speaks at a press conference to international media at the Hotel Eurobuilding in Caracas on September 15.

Night Stalkers train under heavy orders in an unknown location

Night Hunters train with Little Bird helicopters

About 90 miles from where Trump’s troops lie in wait, Russian-made warplanes fly over Venezuelan streets as intense training ramps up.

While Maduro is sending troops to the coastline and the Colombian border, he is spreading propaganda calling the United States a Nazi state that wants to seize Venezuelan oil.

“Raise your hands if you want to be a slave to the gringos,” Maduro said last week. ‘If you want peace, be prepared to earn peace. The people are ready for war, ready for war.’

He condemned Trump’s use of the CIA to initiate possible regime change as ‘desperate’.

‘How long will the CIA continue its coups? Latin America doesn’t want them, doesn’t need them and rejects them, Maduro said in a televised speech.

This comes after the Trump administration made a highly unusual statement last week that the CIA had the authority to conduct covert operations in Venezuela.

The Pentagon announced on October 10 that it would establish a new joint counternarcotics task force to oversee operations in Latin America; The move aims to strengthen already intensifying military operations, which has raised questions among legal experts.

U.S. Southern Command, which oversees operations in Latin America, said the new task force will be based at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina, a powerful unit capable of conducting rapid overseas operations. He said it would be led by the Marine Expeditionary Force.

In a surprise move, Hegseth announced that Admiral Alvin Holsey, who leads U.S. Southern Command, will resign at the end of this year, two years earlier than planned.

Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, called Holsey’s unexpected resignation troubling given growing fears of a possible U.S. conflict with Venezuela.

“Admiral Holsey’s resignation further deepens my concern that this administration is ignoring the hard-won lessons of previous U.S. military actions and the advice of our most experienced warfighters,” Reed said in a statement.

Holsey only became leader of U.S. Southern Command in November, overseeing a region covering the Caribbean Sea and waters off South America.

Such postings usually last three to four years.

The attacks alarmed Democratic lawmakers and raised questions among some legal experts who say Trump is testing the limits of the law while expanding the scope of presidential power.

The administration did not detail what evidence it had against the ships or individuals, nor did it say what type of ammunition or platforms were used in the attacks or how much drugs the ships claimed to be carrying.

Some former military lawyers say the Trump administration’s legal pronouncements to kill suspected drug dealers at sea rather than arrest them fail to meet requirements under the law of war, which requires various criteria to be met before taking lethal action.

Legal experts also questioned why the military carried out the attacks rather than the Coast Guard, the main law enforcement agency at sea.