US Warship Arrives on Venezuela's Doorstep

A U.S. Navy guided missile destroyer arrived in the capital of Trinidad and Tobago on Oct. 26 to take part in a joint military exercise amid heightened tensions between the United States and Venezuela.

The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Gravely will remain in the twin-island nation until Oct. 30, while the U.S. Marine Expeditionary Unit conducts a joint exercise with the Trinidad and Tobago Defense Force, according to a statement from the U.S. Embassy.

U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Jenifer Neidhart de Ortiz said on Oct. 24 that the two nations are working together to tackle “shared threats like transnational crime” and build resilience.

“The partnership between the United States and Trinidad and Tobago exemplifies regional strength through collaboration,” she stated. “Our cooperation ensures greater safety and stability across the Caribbean region.”

Counter-Narcotics Operations

This comes just a day after the Pentagon announced the deployment of the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier to the Southern Command area of responsibility—which encompasses Central America, South America, and the Caribbean—in support of counter-narcotics operations in the region.

Venezuela’s contested socialist government has warned that the joint exercises between Trinidad and the United States pose a “serious threat” to stability in the Caribbean region, according to a statement issued by Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez on Oct. 26.

Venezuela accused Trinidad of engaging in a “military provocation” in coordination with the CIA and alleged that a false flag attack was underway in the waters between Trinidad and Venezuela.

The Venezuelan government also claimed to have captured “a mercenary group with direct information from the U.S. intelligence agency.”

A false flag operation is an act carried out with the intent to make it appear as though the other party was responsible.

Venezuela said the alleged false flag attack was intended to “generate a full military confrontation” against it, but it did not provide any details to support its claim.

President Donald Trump had previously said that he had authorized covert CIA operations in Venezuela, citing two main reasons: that Venezuela was sending prisoners into the United States and that the regime was involved in drug trafficking.

“They have emptied their prisons into the United States of America. ... They came in through the border. They came in because we had an open border,” he told reporters in the Oval Office on Oct. 15.

Venezuela later responded to Trump’s comments, saying they were a violation of international law and an effort to effect a “regime change” in pursuit of oil resources.

Trump has accused Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro of involvement in drug trafficking, which Maduro and Venezuela’s ruling regime have rejected.

Since September, the U.S. military has conducted lethal strikes against boats in the Caribbean Sea that U.S. officials said were carrying illegal drugs to the United States.

War Secretary Pete Hegseth said Oct. 24 that the U.S. military conducted its 10th strike on a suspected drug-running boat, saying that the Tren de Aragua transnational gang was operating the vessel in the Caribbean Sea. The strike left six people dead, he said.