US warship docks in Trinidad and Tobago amid rising tensions with Venezuela

A US warship docked in Trinidad and Tobago’s capital on Sunday, as the Trump administration boosts military pressure on neighbouring Venezuela and its president, Nicolás Maduro.

The arrival of the USS Gravely, a guided-missile destroyer, in the capital of the Caribbean nation, comes in addition to the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R Ford, which is moving closer to Venezuela. Maduro criticised the movement of the carrier as an attempt by the US government to fabricate “a new eternal war” against his country.

According to government officials from Trinidad and Tobago and the US, the massive warship will remain in Trinidad until Thursday, allowing both countries to conduct training exercises.

A statement from the US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Jenifer Neidhart de Ortiz said the exercises seek to “address shared threats like transnational crime and build resilience through training, humanitarian missions, and security efforts.”

While a senior military official in Trinidad and Tobago is quoted in the media as saying that the move was only recently scheduled.

In Venezuela, the Foreign Ministry released a statement warning that the "dangerous conduct of military exercises" in a neighbouring country's waters is a "hostile provocation" against the South American nation and a "serious threat" to the Caribbean area.

Trinidadians protest US warship presence

Meanwhile, dozens of people in Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday staged a demonstration outside the US Embassy to criticise the warship’s docking in town and call for peace.

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,” he said. “That’s an abomination.”

This view, however, contrasts with that of the twin-island nation's prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who has been a vocal supporter of the US military presence and its deadly strikes on suspected drug boats in waters off Venezuela.

And while a regional trade bloc, Caricom, comprising 15 Caribbean countries, including Trinidad and Tobago, has called for dialogue, Persad-Bissessar has said the region is not a zone of peace, citing the number of murders and other violent crimes.

The warship docking follows a warning from the US Embassy in Trinidad and Tobago to Americans not to enter US federal buildings there.

According to local officials, the warning was issued in response to a purported threat against Americans.

US President Donald Trump accuses Venezuela's president, Nicolas Maduro, without providing evidence, of being the leader of the organised crime gang Tren de Aragua, justifying his military strikes on alleged drug-carrying boats in the Caribbean waters.

Some 37 people have been killed so far in nine US strikes on boats in the Caribbean, according to the Pentagon.