WASHINGTON/NIAGARA-ON-THE-LAKE, Canada - The world's largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, arrived in the Caribbean Sea, the US Navy announced on Tuesday, fueling speculation that Washington is targeting Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as part of what the Trump administration calls an anti-narco-terrorism campaign.

With the deployment of the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, US forces in the Caribbean now exceed 15,000 personnel -- the largest military buildup in the region in decades.

"These forces will enhance and augment existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations," said Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell in the US Navy's statement.

The first-in-class carrier, carrying more than 4,000 sailors and dozens of tactical aircraft, can simultaneously catapult launch and recover fixed-wing aircraft day and night in support of tasked operations, according to the statement.

Alongside Gerald R Ford, the carrier strike group includes nine embarked squadrons of Carrier Air Wing Eight, Destroyer Squadron Two's Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers USS Bainbridge and USS Mahan, and the integrated air and missile defense command ship USS Winston S. Churchill, said the statement.

Admiral Alvin Holsey, commander of the US Southern Command (USSOUTHCOM), said the deployment "represents a critical step in reinforcing our resolve to protect the security of the Western Hemisphere and the safety of the American homeland."

Since Sept 2, the US forces have sunk 19 boats allegedly carrying drugs in international waters of the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific, killing at least 76 people aboard.

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Maduro has repeatedly condemned Washington's actions as attempts to overthrow his government and expand US military influence in Latin America. Colombian President Gustavo Petro accused the US government of "murder" for the killings at sea.

US President Donald Trump said last month he had not yet decided whether the United States would attack ground targets inside Venezuela, but admitted that he had authorized the US Central Intelligence Agency to conduct covert operations in the South American country.

USSOUTHCOM's area of responsibility covers the land mass of Latin America south of Mexico, the waters adjacent to Central and South America and the Caribbean Sea, according to the US Navy statement.

France worried 

Meanwhile, France is worried about US military operations in the Caribbean because they violate international law, the country's foreign minister Jean-Noel Barrot said on Tuesday.

"We have observed with concern the military operations in the Caribbean region, because they violate international law and because France has a presence in this region through its overseas territories, where more than a million of our compatriots reside," Barrot said on the sidelines of the Group of Seven foreign ministers' summit in Canada.

"They could therefore be affected by the instability caused by any escalation, which we obviously want to avoid."

With Reuters inputs