The aircraft carrier Nimitz and its escort warships entered the southern Caribbean Sea on Wednesday and will remain in the region for at least a few days as part of the Trump administration’s campaign to pressure the Cuban government, according to the military’s Southern Command and a U.S. official.
Right now, the administration intends to use the Nimitz, and its wing of fighter jets, as a show of force, not as a platform for major military operations, as the aircraft carrier Gerald Ford did during the commando raid to seize President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela in January, said the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss operational matters.
The Nimitz has spent the past several weeks sailing along the South American coast on a previously scheduled training deployment, in recent days conducting exercises with the Brazilian navy.
Still, it hardly seemed coincidental that the Pentagon timed the arrival of the carrier into the southern Caribbean on the same day that the Justice Department announced charges against Raul Castro, the 94-year-old former president of Cuba.
“Welcome to the Caribbean, Nimitz Carrier Strike Group!” the Southern Command posted on social media Wednesday. “U.S.S. Nimitz has proven its combat prowess across the globe, ensuring stability and defending democracy from the Taiwan Strait to the Arabian Gulf.”
Much of firepower the Pentagon amassed in the Caribbean for the Maduro raid left the region soon after to form the backbone of American might in the Iran War. But the amphibious assault ship Tripoli remains in the region, according to the Navy.
