11 NOVEMBER ARMISTICE DAY

Gerald R. Ford and its air wing have officially joined the enhanced counter-narcotics mission under U.S. Southern Command’s (SOUTHCOM) purview, the command said. The first in the newest class of aircraft carriers had been ordered to the Caribbean Sea and is now in the SOUTHCOM area of responsibility (AOR), after it transited from the Mediterranean region through the Strait of Gibraltar into the Atlantic Ocean on November 4.The AOR extends northeast near the Cape Verde islands, about 2,000 miles from Venezuela and a few hundred miles from Africa.

Chief Pentagon Spokesperson Sean Parnell said,
“The enhanced U.S. force presence in the USSOUTHCOM AOR will bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor and disrupt illicit actors and activities that compromise the safety and prosperity of the United States homeland and our security in the Western Hemisphere.

“These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations.”

On October 24, U.S. President Donald Trump ordered the Ford, which had been stationed in the Middle East region, to the Caribbean Sea.

The Ford brings additional capability to the Joint Task Force assigned to the counter-narcotics operation. There are 4 squadrons of F/A-18 Super Hornets, a squadron of E/A-18 Growler electronic warfare jets, a squadron of E-2D Advanced Hawkeye airborne command and control aircraft, MH-60S and MH-60R Seahawk helicopters and a detachment of C-2A Greyhound Onboard Delivery planes. In addition to those assets, several other elements of the Ford Carrier Strike Group will take part in this operation.

Destroyer Squadron Two’s Arleigh Burke class guided-missile destroyers USS Bainbridge (DDG 96) and USS Mahan (DDG 72) and the integrated air and missile defense command ship USS Winston S. Churchill (DDG 81) will join the Ford. Two other Arleigh Burke class destroyers assigned to the strike group – the USS Forrest Sherman and USS Mitscher – are operating in the Red Sea. The Bainbridge was located at 800 nautical miles northeast of Trinidad and Tobago.

The Pentagon stated the Ford and its escorts will join a growing array of U.S. military assets in the region “under a Joint Task Force, created to defeat and dismantle criminal networks that exploit our shared borders and maritime domains”.

There are at least 7 Navy surface vessels, a special operations mothership and aircraft, including F-35B stealth fighters, MQ-9 Reaper drones, and AC-130 Ghostrider gunships deployed to the region. Beyond that, there are site surveys ongoing to see if more military assets should be sent to the region.

In addition to the counter-narcotics operation, at least one of these vessels in this flotilla, the San Antonio class amphibious transport dock ship USS San Antonio, is supporting humanitarian relief efforts in Jamaica following the devastating Hurricane Melissa, SOUTHCOM announced.

The U.K. controls several territories in the region where it bases intelligence assets. “They helped the U.S. locate vessels suspected of carrying drugs so that the U.S. Coast Guard could interdict them. That meant the ships would be stopped, boarded, its crew detained, and drugs seized.”

 

 

US launches “Operation Southern Spear” against narco-terrorists
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November 14th 2025

 

US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced the formal launch of Operation Southern Spear on Thursday, a major military offensive led by the Southern Command (Southcom) aimed at “eliminating narco-terrorists from our hemisphere.”

The announcement formalizes an aggressive counter-narcotics campaign that has already included lethal strikes against vessels suspected of drug trafficking in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean, resulting in at least 80 fatalities since early September. Hegseth wrote,

“Today I announce Operation Southern Spear… to eliminate narco-terrorists from our hemisphere and protect our homeland from the drugs that are killing our people.”

The “War Department” was “complying” with a direct order from President Donald Trump. The operation, which combines Southcom with a newly unveiled Joint Task Force Southern Spear, involves the deployment of surface ships, surveillance drones and specialized naval units near the international waters of Venezuela, Colombia and Central America.

The military campaign is widely viewed by regional officials and analysts as a tool of military pressure against the Venezuelan government of Nicolás Maduro, which the White House accuses of enabling drug trafficking.

The escalation was highlighted by the arrival of the USS Gerald R. Ford, the world’s largest and most advanced aircraft carrier, to the Caribbean Sea this week. Its presence near Venezuelan territorial waters coincided with the US military’s 20th lethal strike against a drug boat earlier this week, which killed four people.

Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López responded with a “massive mobilization” of troops and civilians, showcasing combined military exercises involving air, naval, and missile systems to “confront imperialist threats.”

In Colombia, President Gustavo Petro, recently sanctioned by the US, first suspended and then conditioned intelligence sharing with Washington on the guarantee of human rights.

Additionally, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum announced that her country’s Navy would intercept suspicious vessels in international waters near the country to prevent US attacks in the area. In this scenario, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, while ruling out sending ground troops to Mexico or taking “unilateral actions” in that country, defended the move as a necessary component of the fight against narco-terrorism networks.