The United States’ most advanced aircraft carrier has arrived in the Caribbean Sea in a flex of military power by the President Donald Trump administration, as it raises pressure on Venezuela and prompts questions about what the influx of troops and armoury could portend.

The arrival of the USS Gerald R Ford and other warships, announced by the US Navy in a statement on Sunday, marks a potentially pivotal moment in what the administration has pitched as a counterdrug operation, but is seen in many quarters as an aggressive push against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

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The US has been conducting military strikes on vessels the administration alleges are transporting drugs. In recent months, the campaign has carried out about 20 strikes in the Caribbean and off the Pacific coasts of Latin America, killing some 80 people.

International law and human rights experts have repeatedly said that such attacks amount to extrajudicial executions, even if those targeted are suspected of drug trafficking.

The administration has said that the build-up of American forces in the region is focused on stopping the flow of drugs into the US, but it has provided no evidence at all to support its assertions that those killed in the boats were what they term “narcoterrorists.”

‘Operation Southern Spear’

The Reuters news agency reported on Saturday that senior Trump administration officials held three meetings at the White House this week to discuss options for possible military action against Venezuela, citing unnamed officials.

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The reported meetings come as the Trump administration has continued to significantly expand the US military’s presence in the Latin America region, including with F-35 aircraft, warships and a nuclear submarine.

Earlier this week, the Pentagon said the Gerald R Ford Carrier Strike Group, which includes the world’s largest aircraft carrier, had arrived in the Caribbean with at least 4,000 sailors and dozens of “tactical aircraft” on board.

In total, there are now about 12,000 US sailors and Marines in the region, in what US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Thursday formally named “Operation Southern Spear”.

Under the US Constitution, Congress has the sole power to declare war.

But Trump has said that he would not “necessarily ask for a declaration of war” in order to continue killing people “that are bringing drugs into our country”.

Rear Admiral Paul Lanzilotta, who commands the strike group, said it will bolster an already large force of American warships to “protect our nation’s security and prosperity against narco-terrorism in the Western Hemisphere”.

In Trinidad and Tobago, which is only 11 kilometres (seven miles) from Venezuela at its closest point, government officials said troops have begun “training exercises” with the US military.

Minister of Foreign Affairs Sean Sobers described the joint exercises as the second in less than a month, adding they are aimed at tackling violent crime on the island nation, which has become a stopover point for drug shipments headed to Europe and North America. The prime minister has been a vocal supporter of the US military strikes.

Venezuela’s government has described the training exercises as an act of aggression. It had no immediate comment Sunday on the arrival of the aircraft carrier.

President Maduro, who faces charges of narcoterrorism in the US, has said the US government is “fabricating” a war against him. On his Facebook page, Maduro wrote on Sunday that the “Venezuelan people are ready to defend their homeland against any criminal aggression”.

Venezuela’s government recently promoted a “massive” mobilisation of troops and civilians to defend against possible US attacks.