A U.S. warship docked in Trinidad and Tobago‘s capital on Sunday as the Trump administration boosts its military pressure on neighboring Venezuela and President Nicolás Maduro.
The arrival of the USS Gravely, a guided missile destroyer, in the capital of the Caribbean nation joins the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford, which is moving closer to Venezuela. Maduro criticized the movement of the carrier as an attempt by the U.S government to fabricate “a new eternal war” against his country.
The Venezuelan government on Sunday denounced the presence of the destroyer, calling it a “hostile provocation against Venezuela and a serious threat to the peace of the Caribbean,” and accused the U.S. of preparing to launch a false flag attack.
“Venezuela reports that it has captured a mercenary group with direct information from the U.S. intelligence agency, CIA, being able to determine that a false flag attack is underway from waters bordering Trinidad and Tobago, or from Trinidad or Venezuelan territory itself,” the government said in a statement.
President Trump has accused Maduro, without providing evidence, of being the leader of the organized crime gang Tren de Aragua.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Sunday, “We are involved in a counterdrug operation. The president has made this very clear.”
Government officials from Trinidad and Tobago and the U.S. said the massive warship will remain in Trinidad until Thursday so both countries can carry out training exercises.
Robert Taylor / AP 
A senior military official in Trinidad and Tobago told The Associated Press that the move was only recently scheduled. The official spoke under the condition of anonymity due to a lack of authorization to discuss the matter publicly.
Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, has been a vocal supporter of the U.S. military presence and the deadly strikes on suspected drug boats in waters off Venezuela. The wife of Alejandro Carranza, one of the more than 30 people killed in the strikes, claimed he left home on Colombia’s Caribbean coast to fish in open waters and denied he had any link to drug trafficking.
The Trump administration has said the U.S. is in a “non-international armed conflict” with drug cartels, arguing that the narcotics they smuggle kill tens of thousands of Americans every year, constituting an “armed attack.”
Rubio said Sunday that countries like Trinidad and Tobago cooperate with the U.S.’s drug operations, but, “We have no drug cooperation with the regime in Venezuela, primarily because they’re not legitimate and because they’re part of it. They’re part of the drug operation.”
In an interview aired Sunday on CBS News’ “Face the Nation,” Sen. Lindsey Graham said land strikes in Venezuela are a “real possibility” amid rising tensions.
“I think President Trump’s made a decision that Maduro, the leader of Venezuela, is an indicted drug trafficker, that it’s time for him to go. That Venezuela and Colombia have been safe havens for narco terrorists for too long,” the Republican senator told Margaret Brennan. “And President Trump told me yesterday that he plans to brief members of Congress when he gets back from Asia about future potential military operations against Venezuela and Colombia.”
Venezuela’s government said Sunday, “By bending to Washington’s militarist agenda, Persad-Bissessar not only intends to attack Venezuela … and break our historical bonds of brotherhood, but also violates the Charter of the United Nations, the proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Peace Zone approved by CELAC and the principles of CARICOM.”
“Venezuela does not accept threats from any U.S. vassal government,” the country’s government added. “We are not intimidated by military exercises or war cries.”
U.S. Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Jenifer Neidhart de Ortiz said in a statement that the exercises seek to “address shared threats like transnational crime and build resilience through training, humanitarian missions, and security efforts.”
The visit comes one week after the U.S. Embassy in Trinidad and Tobago warned Americans to stay away from U.S. government facilities there. Local authorities said a reported threat against Americans prompted the warning.
People in Trinidad and Tobago have criticize the warship’s docking in town at a recent demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy. David Abdulah, the leader of the Movement for Social Justice political party, said Trinidad and Tobago should not have allowed the warship into its waters.
“This is a warship in Trinidad, which will be anchored here for several days just miles off Venezuela when there’s a threat of war,” said Abdulah, who is also the leader of the Movement for Social Justice political party. “That’s an abomination.”
Caricom, a regional trade bloc made up of 15 Caribbean countries, has called for dialogue. Trinidad and Tobago is a member of the group, but Persad-Bissessar has said the region is not a zone of peace, citing the number of murders and other violent crimes.
