Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro criticised the US on October 24 following its announcement on military build-up in the Caribbean, which included a plan to deploy the Gerald R Ford carrier strike group. Maduro defended Venezuela as a drug-free nation.
The deployment would join eight existing warships, a nuclear-powered submarine and F-35 fighter jets already in the region, representing a major escalation in US tensions with Venezuela.
The Gerald R Ford, commissioned in 2017, is the newest and largest aircraft carrier in the US fleet, hosting over 5,000 sailors.
