President Donald Trump has ordered the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to the Caribbean, marking the first operational deployment of a carrier to the region since a 1994 Haiti intervention. This move is part of a broader strategy to combat drug trafficking, with Trump signaling potential action against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
Trump has been ramping up naval assets in the region as attacks against alleged drug boats have increased since September. Sending an aircraft carrier is an unprecedented move, as the Ford hasn’t participated in military operations in the Caribbean since 1994, when two carriers were dispatched to respond to political unrest in Haiti for Operation Uphold Democracy.
The Ford’s deployment comes as Trump has signaled that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro may not be in office much longer. The Trump administration has conducted 15 strikes in the Caribbean, while U.S. lawmakers have raised concerns about their legality and a broader conflict in the region.
During Operation Uphold Democracy, aircraft carriers USS Dwight D. Eisenhower and USS America headed to the region as part of a multinational intervention, after Haitian Lt. Gen. Raoul Cedras led a military coup in 1991 that ousted the island’s first freely elected president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide.
In July 1994, the United Nations passed a resolution authorizing the use of military force to restore democracy in Haiti, paving the way for Operation Uphold Democracy to launch in September 1994 as a military buildup designed to pressure Cedras’ regime to step down. At the time, President Bill Clinton justified the intervention, which involved nearly 25,000 U.S. troops, as necessary to remove the Cedras regime after employing