Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro has accused the US of "fabricating a new war", after it ordered the world's largest warship to be sent to the Caribbean.
The USS Gerald R Ford carrier can carry up to 90 aircraft and its deployment marks a massive increase in American fire power in the region.
The US has conducted 10 illegal air strikes on boats in the area as part of what it says is a war on drug traffickers.
US President Donald Trump has falsely accused Maduro of being the leader of a drug-trafficking organisation, which he denies, and there are fears in Venezuela that the US military build-up is aimed at removing the long-time opponent of Trump from power.
The US does not recognise Maduro as the president of Venezuela, after the last election in 2024 was widely dismissed internationally, and by the opposition in Venezuela, as neither free nor fair.
Venezuela plays a relatively minor role in the region's drug trade.
In its announcement on Friday, the Pentagon said the USS Gerald R Ford carrier would deploy to the US Southern Command area of responsibility, which includes Central America and South America as well as the Caribbean.
The additional forces "will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle transnational criminal organisations", spokesman Sean Parnell said.
In his address, Maduro accused the Americans of seeking "a new eternal war".
"They promised they would never again get involved in a war, and they are fabricating a war," he told state media.
The carrier's deployment would provide the resources to start conducting strikes against targets on the ground.
Trump has repeatedly raised the possibility of what he called "land action" in Venezuela.
"We are certainly looking at land now, because we've got the sea very well under control," he said earlier this week.
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