The USS Gravely, an Arleigh-Burke class destroyer, arrived in the Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago on Sunday.
The arrival of the guided missile destroyer adds to a remarkable military deployment of U.S. military assets to the region as tensions with Venezuela continue to escalate.
The USS Gravely accompanies another recent repositioning of a major U.S vessel – the USS Gerald R. Ford, the largest aircraft carrier in the world – from previous obligations in the Mediterranean to the SOUTHCOM (U.S. Southern Command) area of responsibility.
Trinidad & Tobago’s foreign minister stated earlier this week that the USS Gravely will be docked at the nation’s capital port of Spain from Oct. 26-30 to carry out joint exercises.
The U.S. embassy Chargé d’Affaires Jenifer Neidhart de Ortiz asserted the exercises are meant to “address shared threats like transnational crime and build resilience through training, humanitarian missions, and security efforts.”
However, the U.S. vessel’s docking in Trinidad & Tobago, just over 10 kilometers (or roughly 6.8 miles) off the north Venezuelan coast, was interpreted as an unwelcome gesture by the Venezuelan government.
On Sunday, the Venezuelan foreign ministry issued a statement addressing the international community, “denouncing the military provocation by Trinidad and Tobago in coordination with the CIA to provoke a war in the Caribbean.”
Furthermore, the Venezuelan government warned that the “provocation… constitutes a serious threat to the peace of the Caribbean.”
Venezuelan authorities also claimed a recent “capture of a mercenary group directly linked to the CIA” to carry out a “false flag attack” in Trinidad & Tobago to “trigger a full-scale military confrontation.” These claims are unconfirmed.
The statement from the Venezuelan foreign ministry cited historical instances of similar U.S. “false flag operations” in 1898 against Spain in Cuba and 1964 in the Gulf of Tonkin that initiated a rapid military deployment of U.S. forces in Vietnam.
The United States has continued to carry out additional strikes on suspected drug vessels allegedly transporting illicit narcotics to U.S. shores.
The strikes have reportedly killed 43 “narco-terrorists” in 10 (known) U.S. strikes in Caribbean waters, recently expanding targeted boat strikes in the Pacific.
The Maduro regime has accused the United States of spoiling for war, motivated by Venezuela’s rich natural resources of oil and gold, harkening U.S. foreign policy in Latin America back to its “imperialist colonial” era.
Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell iterated this week that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth has ordered the recent deployment of additional military assets as part of a campaign to “dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations (TCOs) and counter narco-terrorism in defense of the Homeland.”
