Port of Spain (AFP) – 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.
© 2024 AFP
