NBC News Senior National Security Correspondent Courtney Kube reports on recent military strikes in Venezuela as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announces the deployment of an aircraft carrier strike group to the region.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump is considering plans to target facilities producing cocaine and routes used for drug trafficking inside Venezuela but has not yet decided whether to proceed, CNN reported on Friday, citing three U.S. officials.

U.S. military and intelligence actions, coupled with Venezuela’s mobilization, have raised the risk of conflict in the Caribbean.

President Donald Trump is considering plans to target cocaine facilities and drug trafficking routes inside Venezuela, though he has not yet made a decision on whether to move forward with them, three US officials told CNN.

U.S. strikes against Venezuela in international waters are a dangerous escalation and amount to "extrajudicial executions," a group of independent United Nations experts said on Tuesday.

The Gerald R. Ford Carrier Group and its air wing have been ordered to the U.S. Southern Command’s area of responsibility.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth has ordered an aircraft carrier strike group currently stationed in Europe to the Caribbean region amid a massive buildup of US military forces in the region.

The Trump administration has surged warships, fighter jets and troops to the Caribbean for drug interdiction. Many see the ultimate goal as toppling Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.

The buildup of U.S. military forces near Venezuela and a series of deadly attacks on alleged drug-trafficking boats in waters off its coast has raised the spectre of an invasion of the South American country.