One potential challenge for the Trump administration is reportedly the cost of maintaining a massive military presence in the area.
The aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford was redirected to the Caribbean in October, and if the Pentagon extends its deployment “it would delay crucial maintenance for the Ford and strain the crew’s morale," says the publication.
The crew is already entering its seventh month at sea, while peacetime deployments typically do not stretch beyond six months.
Besides the Ford strike group deployed near Venezuela, there is also an expeditionary strike group in the vicinity, built around the amphibious assault ship Iwo Jima, adds the report.
The US claims its military presence in the Caribbean is aimed at countering drug trafficking.
After destroying boats off Venezuela’s coast that were allegedly carrying narcotics, the US is now weighing strikes inside the South American country — a move Caracas denounces as a provocation and a breach of the Caribbean’s demilitarized status.