USS Gerald R. Ford is Sent to Caribbean as Drug Smuggling War Intensifies
FALSE FLAG FOR PLANNED INVASION OF VENEZUELA
The United States confirmed that it is taking a series of additional steps to combat drug smuggling, including redirecting the world’s largest aircraft carrier, USS Gerald R. Ford, into the U.S. Southern Command. The announcement of the deployment came just hours after the Pentagon confirmed another attack on a boat in the Caribbean.
The Ford and its carrier strike group have been deployed since June, making various stops in Europe. Reports place the carrier in the Eastern Mediterranean, having made a stop in Croatia. At the beginning of October, the Navy released pictures of the strike group transiting the Strait of Gibraltar. USNI News speculates it will require at least one week to reposition the carrier into the Caribbean, and it reports that it is unclear which vessels will be accompanying the carrier.
A Pentagon spokesperson said in the prepared statement that the presence of Gerald R. Ford in the region would “bolster U.S. capacity to detect, monitor, and disrupt illicit actors and activities…”
The U.S. is believed to have directed as many as eight warships, including at least one nuclear submarine, into Southern Command’s area of responsibility. Reports say there are as many as 10,000 troops that have been positioned in the region. The Air Force is also believed to have repositioned assets to the Caribbean.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, October 23, Donald Trump said the U.S. continues to have concerns with Venezuela and called President Nicolás Maduro an “illegitimate leader.” Trump, however, denied the reports circulating online based on flight tracking data that the U.S. had sent B-1 bombers toward Venezuela. He called the reports false while online speculation was that the U.S. was scoping out the country’s air defense systems. Trump said the U.S. would continue to kill drug smugglers and said the “land is next,” but insisted he did not require a declaration of war from Congress.
Pete Hegseth, this morning, October 24, announced that overnight the U.S. struck another boat in the Caribbean, which he associated with one of the drug cartels, Tren de Aragua. Like the previous strikes, he wrote that intelligence identified the boat on a known drug smuggling route and that it was carrying narcotics.
The strike came after two earlier this week in the Eastern Pacific. It is the ninth announced by Hegseth and the first strike conducted at night. The death toll is up to at least 43 people based on the statements, with only two survivors. Hegseth said “six terrorists were killed” during the overnight strike, which was conducted in international waters.
Hegseth said, “Day or NIGHT, we will map your networks, track your people, hunt you down, and kill you.”
Maduro has called the U.S. actions a “crazy war” and says the U.S. has long tried to destabilize his government. It is widely believed that the administration is seeking to force regime change in Venezuela through its current actions.
Trump’s Escalation Against Venezuela Continues as Hegseth Deploys Aircraft Carrier Strike Group to Latin American Waters
An aide to Brazil’s president warned that a US regime change operation in Venezuela “could inflame South America and lead to radicalization of politics on the whole continent.”
This photograph, taken on May 24, 2023, shows the US aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford cruising near Jeloya Island, in Moss, south of Oslo.
(Photo by Terje Pedersen/NTB/AFP)
Stephen Prager
Oct 24, 2025
COMMON DREAMS
The Trump administration said Friday that it has ordered the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group, which contains the largest warship in the world, to waters off the coast of Venezuela, marking another major military escalation after a new surge of extrajudicial boat bombings in the region this week.
“In support of the president’s directive to dismantle transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) and counter narco-terrorism in defense of the homeland, [Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth] has directed the Gerald R. Ford Carrier Strike Group and embarked carrier air wing to the US Southern Command.”
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The announcement came shortly after the administration announced its 10th strike on what Hegseth claimed to be a drug-running boat, killing six people and bringing the death toll from the operations up to 43. As usual, the claim came with scant evidence.
The narrative that these boats have been transporting drugs to the US has been critically undermined in recent days after two of the alleged “narco-traffickers” who survived one of the Trump administration’s strikes were released back to their home countries: One of the survivors, an Ecuadoran man, was set free shortly after returning to his country as officials stated there was no evidence to charge him.
In several other cases, the relatives or home governments of those killed in these bombings have contested that they were not drug smugglers but fishermen.
The strikes have been met with increasing criticism in recent days, not just from Democrats, but from Republican lawmakers—including Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska)—who co-introduced a war powers resolution last week to require congressional input before carrying out acts of war against Venezuela.
A group of former national security officials—including Rear Adm. Bill Baumgartner of the Coast Guard and Retired Navy Rear Adm. Michael Smith—meanwhile issued a statement on Thursday condemning the strikes as “illegal” and “ineffective.”
The International Crisis Group, a nongovernmental organization dedicated to preventing armed conflict, warned Thursday that “what began purportedly as a campaign to stop illicit drugs from getting to US shores looks increasingly like an attempt to force Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his allies from power.”
According to several reports, Caracas has allegedly floated proposals that would allow the US to take a dominant stake in Venezuela’s oil and mineral wealth.
President Donald Trump’s deployment of the Ford strike group, which is currently en route from the Mediterranean Sea, notably comes shortly after the president threatened to begin carrying out strikes on the Venezuelan mainland without seeking authorization from Congress, which led dozens of elected officials throughout Latin America to issue a letter denouncing military aggression in the region.
“The Trump administration is planning to lead a new ‘War on Drugs,’” the leaders warned. “That war may start with regime change in Venezuela, but we know that it will not end there. Already, the US is threatening illegal drone strikes on Mexican soil in the name of its ‘national security.’ If we do not stand for peace now, we risk a new wave of armed interventions across the region, unleashing a humanitarian crisis of unimaginable scale in all of our home countries.”
Celso Amorim, an aide to Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said on Friday, following the announcement of the ship’s deployment, that “we cannot accept an outside intervention because it will trigger immense resentment,” adding that it “could inflame South America and lead to radicalization of politics on the whole continent.”
Trump Is Gunning for War in Venezuela, Raising Fears of US-Backed Regime Change
Venezuelans fear US strikes on boats in the Caribbean could be a leadup to US backing for a Pinochet-style dictatorship.
By Rodrigo Acuña ,
Democrat Says Trump Admin Still Lacks “Any Evidence” to Back Caribbean Strikes
The administration is now openly targeting Colombia while refusing to provide evidence to back their determinations. By Sharon Zhang , Truthout October 20, 2025
Former Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper, in his autobiography A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times, revealed that for Trump, regime change in Venezuela “seemed to be a bucket list item” and that the U.S. should “get the oil.” In addition to holding the largest proven oil reserves in the world — approximately 303 billion barrels, or roughly 17 percent of global reserves — Venezuela also holds significant gold, iron ore, bauxite, coltan, and diamond deposits.
In a 2022 interview with “60 Minutes,” Esper recounted how during his first term Trump repeatedly asked the Department of Defense about taking more aggressive measures to remove Maduro, including direct military action.
Eventually, Trump settled on deploying a U.S. naval fleet to the Caribbean under the supposed auspices of fighting drug trafficking. In March 2020, the Southern District of New York charged Maduro with narco-terrorism and offered a bounty of up to $15 million for information leading to his arrest or conviction. In July this year, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated the Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns) as a terrorist organisation. As of August 7, 2025, the bounty on Maduro stands at $50 million, despite the fact that most international experts — including the authoritative 2025 United Nations World Drug Report — consider Venezuela a minor player in the narcotics trade.
With the Trump administration back in power, the U.S. president appears determined to remove the Venezuelan head of state.
With the Trump administration back in power, the U.S. president appears determined to remove the Venezuelan head of state, potentially through direct military action. María Corina Machado, a right-wing opposition leader who was recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, could be seen as a figure acceptable to Washington in a transitional government. Having been an avid supporter of the 2002 coup against Chávez, Corina Machado is a strong supporter of the privatization of Venezuela’s state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA). In 2018, Machado wrote a letter to the ex-president of Argentina Mauricio Macri and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisting they use their “strength and influence to advance the dismantling of the criminal Venezuelan regime,” which, in her view, were connected to “drug trafficking and terrorism.”
In Caracas, Ricardo Vaz, writer and editor at Venezuelanalysis.com, says life continues as normal, though “there is tension and concern with this U.S. military buildup on Venezuela’s doorstep.” He notes that while there is awareness of U.S. military might, “there is also defiance,” particularly among the government’s core supporters. Vaz warns that while the current U.S. presence in the Caribbean is insufficient for a full-scale regime change, it has “a lot of potential for destruction, be that from cruise missiles or aircraft, aimed at triggering some internal collapse.”
Adding to these tensions, the Trump administration has granted the CIA authorization to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, according to The New York Times.
In September, ministers from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) held a virtual meeting, denouncing the deployment of U.S. military vessels near Venezuela. CELAC, unlike the U.S.-dominated Organization of American States (OAS), provides a forum for regional countries to discuss issues without Washington’s presence, with Venezuela, Brazil, and Mexico playing leading roles.
Should the United States carry out direct attacks on Venezuelan territory, Caracas could expect strong diplomatic support from the region despite no longer enjoying the political influence it held under Chávez.
Venezuela’s economy has grown for 17 consecutive quarters since 2021, aided by liberalization measures that have not always been popular with the government’s base. In early September, China Concord Resources Corp installed a self-elevating offshore platform in Lake Maracaibo, marking the first significant infrastructure investment in the area in many years. The Alala jackup rig is expected to increase production from 12,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 60,000 bpd by 2026 in the Lago Cinco and Lagunillas Lago oilfields in the state of Zulia, in western Venezuela. A major U.S. military strike could damage the economy, but China’s significant investments might complicate any potential targeting of infrastructure.
Joel Linares Moreno, a Caracas-based fixer for international media outlets, notes that if the Trump administration deployed full military force, organized resistance might only last a few days given the huge imbalance of power between the United States military and Venezuela’s army, air force, and navy. However, Linares Moreno adds that removing government supporters — known as Chavistas — would likely require a force willing to carry out serious human rights abuses. “They know what awaits them is a Pinochet-style dictatorship, and that’s precisely why they would fight hard, even after the Venezuelan military is neutralized,” he said. He warns that the U.S. could “overplay its hand.”
The coming weeks and months will reveal the Trump administration’s plans for Venezuela and whether Maduro and the Chavistas can remain in power. It will also highlight whether the governments of Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico can gather enough international diplomatic support to halt a U.S.-led war in Latin America, which has not been seen since the U.S. invasion of Panama in late 1989. That military operation, like the current one in the Caribbean Sea, was based on a string of falsehoods.
A correction was made to clarify that the platform in Lake Maracaibo was not the first of its kind but rather the first significant infrastructure investment in the area in many years.
Support justice-driven, accurate and transparent news — make a quick donation to Truthout today!
This article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), and you are free to share and republish under the terms of the license.
Rodrigo Acuña holds a PhD on Venezuelan foreign policy from Macquarie University. Together with journalist Nicolas Ford, last year he released his first documentary Venezuela: The Cost of Challenging an Empire. Rodrigo has been writing on Latin American politics for close to 20 years and works for the NSW Department of Education. He can be followed on X (Twitter) @rodrigoac7.
Venezuelans fear US strikes on boats in the Caribbean could be a leadup to US backing for a Pinochet-style dictatorship.
By Rodrigo Acuña ,
October 21, 2025
Members of the Bolivarian Armed Forces take part in a military exercise at Fort Tiuna in Caracas, Venezuela, on September 20, 2025.PEDRO MATTEY / AFP via Getty Images
The Trump administration is attacking boats in the Caribbean Sea with such frequency that it may blow up another between the publication of this article and your reading of it. The administration has so far failed to produce any hard evidence behind its allegations that the seven speedboats destroyed by U.S. airstrikes were carrying narcotics. As of October 21, reports indicate that 32 people have been killed in these attacks. On October 3, a speedboat reportedly carrying Colombian citizens was destroyed in one such missile strike, prompting Colombian President Gustavo Petro to post on X that a “war scenario” has emerged in the Caribbean.
This week, Colombia recalled its ambassador to the United States while accusing the Trump administration of “murdering” the fisherman while labelling another strike that took place in mid-September as a “direct threat to national security.” Donald Trump for his part has called Petro an “illegal drug dealer” while saying that the President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro “doesn’t want to fuck around” with the U.S. — a reference to a report in The New York Times that alleged Maduro has tried to cut a resource deal with Washington in order to avoid a military conflict.
The legality of these strikes has been questioned by several experts. Dan Herman, senior director at the Washington-based think tank Center for American Progress, said Trump has “no legal authority to conduct these strikes” and noted that the U.S. government has “presented no evidence for its claims.” Herman believes these attacks are unlikely to have any meaningful impact on the influx of drugs into the United States.
Former army captain and army lawyer Margaret Donovan concurred in a recent MSNBC interview, stating that Trump has “no domestic or international legal authority to conduct these strikes.” Donovan, a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School, added: “When you don’t have domestic or international legal authority to conduct these types of strikes, what you are doing is murdering people.”
As of October 21, reports indicate that 32 people have been killed in these attacks.
Similarly, James Story, who served as U.S. ambassador to Venezuela from 2018 to 2023, said Trump’s strikes place the United States in “contravention with international law and it undermines our ability to work in the hemisphere.”
The current U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean Sea commenced on August 14, with the Trump administration alleging it was due to threats from Latin American drug traffickers. Based on available media reports, there are approximately 10 U.S. Navy ships in the Caribbean Sea, with three directly off the coast of Venezuela. According to Military.com, there are also currently “10,000 U.S. troops now operating in the Caribbean [who] were sent to interdict drug boats.”
U.S. foreign policy toward Venezuela, under both Democratic and Republican administrations, has long aimed at regime change. In April 2002, the administration of President George W. Bush quickly endorsed the leadership of Pedro Carmona, head of the national business federation Fedecámaras, after a faction of the military kidnapped President Hugo Chávez for 47 hours, until he was rescued by loyalist armed forces.
There are approximately 10 U.S. Navy ships in the Caribbean Sea, with three directly off the coast of Venezuela.
Since then, the United States has implemented increasingly harsh economic sanctions against Venezuela. In 2015, then-President Barack Obama declared Venezuela a threat to U.S. national security, a move that prompted foreign ministers from a coalition of 12 South American nations to call on Washington to revoke the decree. By 2017, U.S. sanctions had tangible effects: a low-income Venezuelan family of five could expect to consume only 6,132 calories per day — 1,226 per person if divided equally. Earlier this year, The Lancet reported that U.S.-led sanctions contribute to an estimated 564,000 deaths across the world each year, with a significant proportion occurring in Venezuela.
After Hugo Chávez’s death from cancer in 2013, President Nicolás Maduro initially struggled to fill the political vacuum. Between 2013 and 2019, Venezuela saw an 80 percent drop in imports, devastating its import-dependent economy. In 2019, the Trump administration continued the U.S. trend of throwing its weight behind opposition leaders, this time backing Juan Guaidó, who challenged Maduro’s 2018 reelection. Trump’s choice to formally recognize Guaidó as interim president signaled a renewed push by the U.S. to overturn the Bolivarian government.
y
The Trump administration is attacking boats in the Caribbean Sea with such frequency that it may blow up another between the publication of this article and your reading of it. The administration has so far failed to produce any hard evidence behind its allegations that the seven speedboats destroyed by U.S. airstrikes were carrying narcotics. As of October 21, reports indicate that 32 people have been killed in these attacks. On October 3, a speedboat reportedly carrying Colombian citizens was destroyed in one such missile strike, prompting Colombian President Gustavo Petro to post on X that a “war scenario” has emerged in the Caribbean.
This week, Colombia recalled its ambassador to the United States while accusing the Trump administration of “murdering” the fisherman while labelling another strike that took place in mid-September as a “direct threat to national security.” Donald Trump for his part has called Petro an “illegal drug dealer” while saying that the President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro “doesn’t want to fuck around” with the U.S. — a reference to a report in The New York Times that alleged Maduro has tried to cut a resource deal with Washington in order to avoid a military conflict.
The legality of these strikes has been questioned by several experts. Dan Herman, senior director at the Washington-based think tank Center for American Progress, said Trump has “no legal authority to conduct these strikes” and noted that the U.S. government has “presented no evidence for its claims.” Herman believes these attacks are unlikely to have any meaningful impact on the influx of drugs into the United States.
Former army captain and army lawyer Margaret Donovan concurred in a recent MSNBC interview, stating that Trump has “no domestic or international legal authority to conduct these strikes.” Donovan, a visiting lecturer at Yale Law School, added: “When you don’t have domestic or international legal authority to conduct these types of strikes, what you are doing is murdering people.”
As of October 21, reports indicate that 32 people have been killed in these attacks.
Similarly, James Story, who served as U.S. ambassador to Venezuela from 2018 to 2023, said Trump’s strikes place the United States in “contravention with international law and it undermines our ability to work in the hemisphere.”
The current U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean Sea commenced on August 14, with the Trump administration alleging it was due to threats from Latin American drug traffickers. Based on available media reports, there are approximately 10 U.S. Navy ships in the Caribbean Sea, with three directly off the coast of Venezuela. According to Military.com, there are also currently “10,000 U.S. troops now operating in the Caribbean [who] were sent to interdict drug boats.”
U.S. foreign policy toward Venezuela, under both Democratic and Republican administrations, has long aimed at regime change. In April 2002, the administration of President George W. Bush quickly endorsed the leadership of Pedro Carmona, head of the national business federation Fedecámaras, after a faction of the military kidnapped President Hugo Chávez for 47 hours, until he was rescued by loyalist armed forces.
There are approximately 10 U.S. Navy ships in the Caribbean Sea, with three directly off the coast of Venezuela.
Since then, the United States has implemented increasingly harsh economic sanctions against Venezuela. In 2015, then-President Barack Obama declared Venezuela a threat to U.S. national security, a move that prompted foreign ministers from a coalition of 12 South American nations to call on Washington to revoke the decree. By 2017, U.S. sanctions had tangible effects: a low-income Venezuelan family of five could expect to consume only 6,132 calories per day — 1,226 per person if divided equally. Earlier this year, The Lancet reported that U.S.-led sanctions contribute to an estimated 564,000 deaths across the world each year, with a significant proportion occurring in Venezuela.
After Hugo Chávez’s death from cancer in 2013, President Nicolás Maduro initially struggled to fill the political vacuum. Between 2013 and 2019, Venezuela saw an 80 percent drop in imports, devastating its import-dependent economy. In 2019, the Trump administration continued the U.S. trend of throwing its weight behind opposition leaders, this time backing Juan Guaidó, who challenged Maduro’s 2018 reelection. Trump’s choice to formally recognize Guaidó as interim president signaled a renewed push by the U.S. to overturn the Bolivarian government.
y
Democrat Says Trump Admin Still Lacks “Any Evidence” to Back Caribbean Strikes
The administration is now openly targeting Colombia while refusing to provide evidence to back their determinations. By Sharon Zhang , Truthout October 20, 2025
Former Secretary of Defense Mark T. Esper, in his autobiography A Sacred Oath: Memoirs of a Secretary of Defense During Extraordinary Times, revealed that for Trump, regime change in Venezuela “seemed to be a bucket list item” and that the U.S. should “get the oil.” In addition to holding the largest proven oil reserves in the world — approximately 303 billion barrels, or roughly 17 percent of global reserves — Venezuela also holds significant gold, iron ore, bauxite, coltan, and diamond deposits.
In a 2022 interview with “60 Minutes,” Esper recounted how during his first term Trump repeatedly asked the Department of Defense about taking more aggressive measures to remove Maduro, including direct military action.
Eventually, Trump settled on deploying a U.S. naval fleet to the Caribbean under the supposed auspices of fighting drug trafficking. In March 2020, the Southern District of New York charged Maduro with narco-terrorism and offered a bounty of up to $15 million for information leading to his arrest or conviction. In July this year, the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) designated the Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns) as a terrorist organisation. As of August 7, 2025, the bounty on Maduro stands at $50 million, despite the fact that most international experts — including the authoritative 2025 United Nations World Drug Report — consider Venezuela a minor player in the narcotics trade.
With the Trump administration back in power, the U.S. president appears determined to remove the Venezuelan head of state.
With the Trump administration back in power, the U.S. president appears determined to remove the Venezuelan head of state, potentially through direct military action. María Corina Machado, a right-wing opposition leader who was recently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, could be seen as a figure acceptable to Washington in a transitional government. Having been an avid supporter of the 2002 coup against Chávez, Corina Machado is a strong supporter of the privatization of Venezuela’s state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA). In 2018, Machado wrote a letter to the ex-president of Argentina Mauricio Macri and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisting they use their “strength and influence to advance the dismantling of the criminal Venezuelan regime,” which, in her view, were connected to “drug trafficking and terrorism.”
In Caracas, Ricardo Vaz, writer and editor at Venezuelanalysis.com, says life continues as normal, though “there is tension and concern with this U.S. military buildup on Venezuela’s doorstep.” He notes that while there is awareness of U.S. military might, “there is also defiance,” particularly among the government’s core supporters. Vaz warns that while the current U.S. presence in the Caribbean is insufficient for a full-scale regime change, it has “a lot of potential for destruction, be that from cruise missiles or aircraft, aimed at triggering some internal collapse.”
Adding to these tensions, the Trump administration has granted the CIA authorization to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, according to The New York Times.
In September, ministers from the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) held a virtual meeting, denouncing the deployment of U.S. military vessels near Venezuela. CELAC, unlike the U.S.-dominated Organization of American States (OAS), provides a forum for regional countries to discuss issues without Washington’s presence, with Venezuela, Brazil, and Mexico playing leading roles.
Should the United States carry out direct attacks on Venezuelan territory, Caracas could expect strong diplomatic support from the region despite no longer enjoying the political influence it held under Chávez.
Venezuela’s economy has grown for 17 consecutive quarters since 2021, aided by liberalization measures that have not always been popular with the government’s base. In early September, China Concord Resources Corp installed a self-elevating offshore platform in Lake Maracaibo, marking the first significant infrastructure investment in the area in many years. The Alala jackup rig is expected to increase production from 12,000 barrels per day (bpd) to 60,000 bpd by 2026 in the Lago Cinco and Lagunillas Lago oilfields in the state of Zulia, in western Venezuela. A major U.S. military strike could damage the economy, but China’s significant investments might complicate any potential targeting of infrastructure.
Joel Linares Moreno, a Caracas-based fixer for international media outlets, notes that if the Trump administration deployed full military force, organized resistance might only last a few days given the huge imbalance of power between the United States military and Venezuela’s army, air force, and navy. However, Linares Moreno adds that removing government supporters — known as Chavistas — would likely require a force willing to carry out serious human rights abuses. “They know what awaits them is a Pinochet-style dictatorship, and that’s precisely why they would fight hard, even after the Venezuelan military is neutralized,” he said. He warns that the U.S. could “overplay its hand.”
The coming weeks and months will reveal the Trump administration’s plans for Venezuela and whether Maduro and the Chavistas can remain in power. It will also highlight whether the governments of Venezuela, Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico can gather enough international diplomatic support to halt a U.S.-led war in Latin America, which has not been seen since the U.S. invasion of Panama in late 1989. That military operation, like the current one in the Caribbean Sea, was based on a string of falsehoods.
A correction was made to clarify that the platform in Lake Maracaibo was not the first of its kind but rather the first significant infrastructure investment in the area in many years.
Support justice-driven, accurate and transparent news — make a quick donation to Truthout today!
This article is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0), and you are free to share and republish under the terms of the license.
Rodrigo Acuña holds a PhD on Venezuelan foreign policy from Macquarie University. Together with journalist Nicolas Ford, last year he released his first documentary Venezuela: The Cost of Challenging an Empire. Rodrigo has been writing on Latin American politics for close to 20 years and works for the NSW Department of Education. He can be followed on X (Twitter) @rodrigoac7.
