Tensions are escalating in the Caribbean as former U.S. President Donald Trump has positioned a Navy destroyer just seven miles from Venezuela, drawing sharp criticism from Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
The USS Gravely, a guided missile destroyer, docked in Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday for a four-day visit. This visit includes joint training exercises with the local defense forces.
Located just 6.8 miles from Venezuela at its nearest point, the island nation’s proximity to the South American country has sparked controversy.
In response, Venezuela has vehemently condemned what it describes as a “military provocation” by Trinidad and Tobago, allegedly coordinated with the CIA, with intentions of inciting conflict in the Caribbean.
Caracas further announced the arrest of individuals they claim are “mercenaries” with ties to the CIA, shortly after Trump mentioned authorizing covert operations against Venezuela.
The Venezuelan government asserts that these alleged mercenaries were planning a “false flag attack” to trigger an all-out war, although specific details have not been provided.
Tensions escalated when the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, was deployed to the region on Friday, joining the largest US force assembled in the Caribbean since the Cold War.
The White House has declared a formal armed conflict against drug cartels, singling out the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang as ‘narco-terrorists.’ Since September, US forces have blown up ten boats, killing 43 people.
The USS Gravely steams into the Port of Spain in Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday
The US Navy destroyer USS Gravely arrives in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, on Sunday
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro looks on during a meeting at the National Assembly in Caracas on August 22 (left) and Donald Trump waves upon his arrival at Haneda airport in Tokyo, Japan, on Monday
Crew of the USS Gravely warship stand on the bow of the vessel as it enters the port of Port of Spain on Sunday
Socialist tyrant Maduro is flooding the airwaves with propaganda that Trump is a bloodthirsty fascist who plans to invade and has mobilized tens of thousands of reservists for the onslaught he claims his coming.
The US currently has around 10,000 troops in the Caribbean — including multiple warships, nuclear submarines, F-35 fighter jets, MQ-9 Reaper drones, P-8 Poseidon reconnaissance planes, and B-52 bombers.
The standoff has pulled in Colombia’s Gustavo Petro, a sharp critic of the US strikes who was sanctioned by Washington on Friday for allegedly allowing drug production to flourish.
Caracas has accused Trinidad and Tobago, a laid-back twin-island nation of 1.4 million people whose Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar is fiercely critical of Maduro, of serving as ‘a US aircraft carrier.’
The Trinidad and Tobago government said the USS Gravely’s visit ‘aims to bolster the fight against transnational crime and build resilience through training, humanitarian activities, and security cooperation.’
It values its relationship ‘with the people of Venezuela’ and remains committed to ‘the creation of a safer, stronger and more prosperous region,’ a government statement said.
Trinidad and Tobago, which acts as a hub in the Caribbean drug trade, has itself been caught up in the US campaign of strikes on suspected drug boats.
Two Trinidadian men were killed in a strike on a vessel that set out from Venezuela in mid-October, according to their families.
Venezuelan military patrol around the Simon Bolivar International Bridge at the Colombia-Venezuela border as seen from Villa del Rosario, Colombia on October 16
This aerial view shows the USS Gravely warship docked in the port of Port of Spain on Sunday
The mother of one of the victims insisted he was a fisherman, not a drug trafficker.
Local authorities have not yet confirmed their deaths.
Trump sparked concerns on Capitol Hill last month when he informed Congress that the US is now engaged in a ‘non-international armed conflict’.
It allows the president to treat the cartel gangsters as ‘unlawful combatants’, meaning they can be killed or detained without a trial.
The strikes primarily target smugglers from Venezuela where Maduro is not recognized as legitimate president by Washington.
Trump earlier this month warned Maduro that he better not ‘f*** around with America’ as he spoke to reporters at the White House.
The White House also stated that it had authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations inside Venezuela, a highly unusual disclosure.
The drug boat strikes have alarmed Democratic lawmakers and legal scholars, who see Trump testing the limits of the law as he expands the scope of presidential power.
The administration has not detailed what evidence it has against the vessels or individuals, has not said what type of munitions or platforms were used in the strikes or even what quantity of drugs the vessels were allegedly carrying.
Some former military lawyers say the legal explanations given by the Trump administration for killing suspected drug traffickers at sea instead of apprehending them fail to satisfy requirements under the law of war, which requires several criteria to be met before taking lethal action – including first using non-lethal means like firing warning shots.
Legal experts have also questioned why the military is carrying out the strikes instead of the Coast Guard, which is the main maritime law enforcement agency.
