SCOTT DETROW, HOST:
The nation's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, has been making its way around the globe, but has now entered the waters under the control of U.S. Southern Command. That is the military command focused on Central and South America. The move highlights the growing tensions with Venezuela as the U.S. ramps up its presence in the region. Now, this all follows several rounds of deadly military strikes against boats and ships carrying people the Trump administration has called narcoterrorists. Venezuelan authorities say the buildup is a pretext for regime change in their country. For more, we're going to go to NPR's Carrie Kahn in neighboring Ecuador. Hey, Carrie.
CARRIE KAHN, BYLINE: Hi, Scott.
DETROW: Do we know where the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford is right now?
KAHN: Not exactly. In a statement, the Pentagon said the huge ship is now under the jurisdiction of Southern Command, which encompasses a very large region near Latin America. But waiting for it is already a large U.S. military presence in the Caribbean. To date, those assets have struck 19 small boats suspected of running drugs and killed at least 76 people the U.S. says were all alleged drug traffickers.
Critics have been questioning the legality of these strikes and saying, even before the Gerald R. Ford arrives, look, there's already too much firepower in the region if all you're doing is interdicting these alleged small-time drug runners. And they say it's looking more like that show of force is about unseating Venezuela's leader, Nicolas Maduro, a longtime target of the U.S.
DETROW: What has Maduro said in response to all of this?
KAHN: He's made a big show of announcing what he's called this national plan to defend the homeland, including calling up troops or forces. His defense minister puts that force at 200,000. It's unclear if that's even possible. Vladimir Padrino, the defense minister, has been saying Venezuela does not want war.
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VLADIMIR PADRINO: (Speaking Spanish).
KAHN: But he says if the U.S. does actually attack Venezuela, they are going to have to go through a very determined people ready to defend until the death. He's been on repeat on state TV. He's handing out, like, weapons, moving what looks like very outdated military hardware around and sounding alarms since last night.
DETROW: What has the response been throughout the region as this U.S. military buildup has continued?
KAHN: Neighboring Colombia has been the loudest critic of the U.S. President Gustavo Petro there, a fellow leftist, has been sanctioned by the Trump administration. Trump has called him an illegal drug dealer. Petro says Colombia will no longer give drug intelligence to the U.S., and that's huge 'cause for decades, Colombia has been the U.S.' staunchest ally in the so-called war on drugs. The U.S. has spent billions cooperating with Colombia. A former U.S. ambassador to Venezuela, James Story, tells me, without Colombian cooperation, the U.S. is at a severe disadvantage.
JAMES STORY: ...Because it's the source country of most of the cocaine that flows north, as well as a good amount of the heroin. And if we're blind to what's happening on the ground in Colombia, we're not going to be as successful in stopping those drugs from reaching the United States.
KAHN: Britain says it's no longer going to cooperate on some intelligence sharing with the (inaudible) because of the U.S. boat strikes. An official who was not authorized to speak publicly told NPR that overall intelligence sharing remains strong, but certain U.S. requests are being denied because they do not align with British foreign policy. And also, France's foreign minister condemned the attacks. He's calling it a violation of international law. And both of those countries, of course, have territories in the Caribbean.
DETROW: That is NPR's Carrie Kahn joining us from Ecuador. Thank you so much.
KAHN: You're welcome.
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