Vatican

The U.S. has massed a large naval and air force in the Caribbean — centered on the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group and supported by destroyers, amphibious ships, a nuclear attack submarine, B‑52s, F‑35s, AC‑130s and thousands of sailors and Marines — conducting repeated maritime strikes on suspected drug‑smuggling vessels as part of "Operation Southern Spear," and President Trump has signaled the U.S. will begin targeting traffickers "by land" "very soon," even as he did not rule out ground forces. Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro has denounced the buildup as a fabricated pretext for aggression, mobilized forces and vowed resistance, while regional reactions and U.S. lawmakers and legal experts have expressed mixed support and raised questions about the operations’ legal basis.