CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — A United States (US) aircraft carrier strike group arrived in Latin America Tuesday, escalating a military buildup Venezuela has warned could trigger a full-blown conflict as it announced its own “massive” deployment.

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

The vessel’s deployment was ordered nearly three weeks ago, with the stated goal of helping to 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 spokesperson 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 sent 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.”

“If we as a republic, as a people, go into an armed struggle in order to defend the sacred legacy of the liberators, we’re ready to win,” Maduro said Tuesday.

On 2 November, Trump played down the prospect of going to war with Venezuela but said the days of Maduro — whom he accuses of being a drug lord — were numbered.

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

In response to these strikes, Colombian President Gustavo Petro ordered the suspension of his country’s intel exchange with Washington on Tuesday, a pause which “will remain in force as long as the missile attacks on boats continue,” he said in a post on X.

The Trump administration says the US is engaged in “armed conflict” with Latin American drug cartels, which it describes as “terrorist” groups.