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A U.S. guided missile destroyer docked in Trinidad and Tobago’s capital on Sunday as the Trump administration escalates a campaign of military pressure against neighboring Venezuela and its President Nicolás Maduro.
USS Gravely arrived in Port-of-Spain to conduct joint military training exercises with the Caribbean nation. The warship will remain until Thursday, according to government officials from the two countries.
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.”
Venezuela said the conduct of military exercises in the waters of a neighboring country is “dangerous” and a “serious threat” to the Caribbean region, further calling it a “hostile provocation” toward the South American nation, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry.
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Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, has supported the U.S. military presence and the Trump administration’s deadly strikes on suspected drug boats in waters off Venezuela.
The arrival of USS Gravely in Trinidad and Tobago comes as the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford moves closer to Venezuela in the Trump administration’s effort to target suspected drug smuggling vessels in the Caribbean.
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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 Trump administration has already ordered a number of strikes in the Caribbean aimed at dismantling and disrupting drug cartels in the region. President Donald Trump has also accused Maduro of being a drug cartel leader.
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Earlier this month, Trump confirmed that he authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela, saying he did so because the South American nation has released prisoners into the U.S. and that drugs were coming into the U.S. from Venezuela through sea routes.
Fox News Digital’s Louis Casiano and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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