US Carrier Arrives in Caribbean Near Venezuela

The nuclear-powered USS Gerald R Ford, which operates F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter planes, is the world’s largest aircraft carrier. It is joined by two guided-missile destroyers and other support vessels and aircraft.

Washington has built up the most significant US military force in the region for generations after blowing up 20 boats that it said were ferrying drugs.

Relations between Maduro and Trump have deteriorated sharply since the president’s second term began, driven by American accusations that the Venezuelan government is complicit in drugs being trafficked into the US.

However, privately aides have said he is wary of anything could turn into an embarrassing failure or put American troops at risk.

A sustained military campaign risks angering much of Trump’s political base, which is opposed to the US being drawn into costly foreign entanglements.

A senior European official told the New York Times that US officials had insisted to diplomatic allies that the deployment was only designed to raise the temperature to see how Maduro would react.

Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, has said any military operation would be focused purely on the drug trade. In private meetings last week with House and Senate leaders, he reportedly said the government had no ambition for regime change.

Trump has also reportedly asked about Venezuela’s vast oil reserves. Venezuelan officials hoping to avert a clash earlier this year offered the Trump administration a dominant stake in the country’s oil and other mineral wealth.

The offer was discussed for months, but fell through in October.