Venezuela's Maduro accuses US of 'fabricating war' as world's largest warship heads to Caribbean

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has accused the United States of "fabricating a war" after Washington ordered the world's largest warship, the USS Gerald R Ford, to the Caribbean in what appears to be a major escalation of its military presence in the region.

According to a report by the BBC, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth directed the aircraft carrier - capable of carrying up to 90 planes - to move from the Mediterranean on Friday as part of what the US describes as a campaign against drug trafficking.

"They are fabricating a new eternal war," Maduro told state media. "They promised they would never again get involved in a war, and they are fabricating a war."

The deployment comes amid a growing build-up of American military assets in the Caribbean, including warships, a nuclear submarine, and F-35 fighter jets. The US has also carried out ten airstrikes on vessels it claims belong to drug traffickers, the latest of which took place on Friday, killing "six male narco-terrorists," according to Hegseth.

That operation targeted a boat allegedly linked to the Tren de Aragua criminal network. The increasing use of force has sparked condemnation across Latin America, with legal experts questioning the legitimacy of the strikes.

The Trump administration maintains that the campaign is aimed at dismantling narcotics networks. However, critics - including analysts and members of Congress - argue it is also part of an intimidation strategy intended to destabilise Maduro's government.

Maduro, a long-time adversary of former US President Donald Trump, has been accused by Washington of leading a drug-trafficking organisation, an allegation he vehemently denies.

"This is about regime change. They're probably not going to invade; the hope is this is about signalling," Dr Christopher Sabatini, a senior fellow for Latin America at Chatham House, told the BBC. 

He added that the military show of force was likely intended to "strike fear" within Venezuela's military and Maduro's inner circle.

The Pentagon said in a statement that the USS Gerald R Ford was being deployed to the US Southern Command area, which covers Central and South America and the Caribbean. 

"The additional forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle TCOs [transnational criminal organisations]," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said.

The move could allow the US to conduct targeted strikes on land — an option Trump has publicly discussed in recent weeks. 

"We are certainly looking at land now, because we've got the sea very well under control," he said earlier this week, as CNN reported that the administration was considering attacks on drug routes and cocaine facilities inside Venezuela.

The BBC notes that the carrier's deployment represents a significant escalation in the region's military tensions and could further strain relations between Washington and Caracas. The USS Gerald R Ford, last tracked off the coast of Croatia, can operate as part of a strike group supported by missile-equipped destroyers and other warships.

In recent weeks, US forces have conducted several strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific Oceans, killing at least 43 people since September, according to BBC reporting. But questions are mounting in Washington over the legality of these operations.

Twenty-five Democratic senators wrote to the White House on 10 September, expressing concern that a previous strike had been carried out "without evidence that the individuals on the vessel and the vessel's cargo posed a threat to the United States." Republican Senator Rand Paul has also argued that such military actions require congressional authorisation.

Trump, however, insisted that he has the legal authority to order the strikes, citing the designation of Tren de Aragua as a terrorist organisation. 

"We're allowed to do that, and if we do [it] by land, we may go back to Congress," he told reporters at the White House.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio defended the operations, saying, "If people want to stop seeing drug boats blow up, stop sending drugs to the United States."

Commenting on the constitutional implications, former US State Department lawyer Brian Finucane told the BBC, "The US is experiencing an Article 1 crisis. It is the US Congress that has principal control over the use of military force. That control has been usurped in this instance by the White House, and so it's up to Congress to push back."