A US guided-missile destroyer that docked for four days in Trinidad and Tobago, within firing range of mainland Venezuela — which called its presence a “provocation” — departed as scheduled on Thursday, AFP witnessed.
The USS Gravely arrived in Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday, deepening a diplomatic row with Caracas over US military activity in the Caribbean.
During the warship’s stay in the two-island nation off Venezuela’s coast, a contingent of US Marines conducted joint training with local defense forces, part of a mounting military campaign by US President Donald Trump against drug-trafficking organizations in Latin America.
US strikes on alleged drug-smuggling boats in international waters in the Caribbean and Pacific have killed at least 62 people in recent weeks.
Trump’s administration says Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro is a drug lord, an accusation he denies, and has issued a $50 million reward for information leading to his capture.
Trump has put the United States on a war footing in the Caribbean, raising speculation he will forcefully depose Venezuela’s leftist firebrand Nicolas Maduro.
Venezuela claimed Monday to have dismantled a CIA-financed cell plotting a false-flag attack against the USS Gravely.
The Pentagon has so far deployed seven warships to the Caribbean and one to the Gulf of Mexico, ostensibly for anti-drug operations.
Experts say the attacks on alleged drug trafficking boats amount to extrajudicial killings, even if they target known traffickers.
Ha-Ha! I guess Russian missiles just landed in Venezuela. Soon Chinese weapon systems will be all over South America too, not 800 military bases as USA has all over the globe, but just enough to keep our troupes home up here in USA.