US aircraft carrier arrives in Latin America

A US aircraft carrier strike group arrived in Latin America on Tuesday, escalating a military buildup that Venezuela has warned could trigger a full-blown conflict as it announced its own deployment.

The USS Gerald R. Ford, the world's largest aircraft carrier, entered the US Naval Forces Southern Command's area of responsibility, which encompasses Latin America and the Caribbean, the command said in a statement.

The vessel's deployment was ordered nearly three weeks ago to help counter drug trafficking in the region. Its presence "will bolster US 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," Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said.

President Donald Trump's administration is conducting a military campaign in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, deploying naval and air forces for an anti-drugs offensive.

Caracas fears the deployment, which also includes F-35 stealth warplanes deployed to Puerto Rico and six US Navy ships in the Caribbean, is a regime change plot in disguise.

President Nicolas Maduro, whose last two reelections were dismissed as fraudulent by Washington and dozens of other countries, has accused the Trump administration of "fabricating a war."

On November 2, Trump played down the prospect of going to war with Venezuela but said Maduro's days were numbered.

US forces have carried out strikes on at least 20 vessels in international waters in the region since early September, killing at least 76 people, according to US figures.

The Trump administration has said in a notice to Congress that the United States is engaged in "armed conflict" with Latin American drug cartels, describing them as terrorist groups.

Washington has not provided any evidence the vessels were used to smuggle drugs, and human rights experts say the strikes amount to extrajudicial killings even if they target traffickers.