Tensions: U.S. Guided Missile Destroyer Docks in Trinidad and Tobago, Upping Pressure on Neighbouring Venezuela

• US Navy’s ‘most lethal combat platform,’ the carrier USS Gerald R Ford, is already being sent to the Caribbean
• The arrival of the USS Gravely near Venezuela was blasted by Caracas as a ‘hostile provocation’

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 Nicolas Maduro.

The arrival of the USS Gravely, a guided missile destroyer, in the capital of the Caribbean nation is 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.

US President Donald Trump has accused Maduro, without providing evidence, of being the leader of the organised crime gang Tren de Aragua.

Government officials from the twin-island nation and the US said the massive warship will remain in Trinidad until Thursday so both countries can carry out training exercises.

A senior military official in Trinidad and Tobago told Associated Press that the move was only recently scheduled. The official spoke under condition of anonymity due to lack of authorisation to discuss the matter publicly.

Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, has been a vocal supporter of the US military presence and the deadly strikes on suspected drug boats in waters off Venezuela.

US 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”.

On Sunday, Venezuela said the “dangerous conduct of military exercises” in the waters of a neighbouring country constitutes a “serious threat” to the Caribbean region and a “hostile provocation” toward the South American nation, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry.

Caracas added that it had arrested “a group of mercenaries” with links to the CIA, days after Trump said he had authorised covert CIA operations against Venezuela.

Maduro’s government claimed the alleged mercenaries were mounting a “false flag attack” aimed at provoking a full-blown war, without giving details.

Venezuela regularly claims to have arrested US-backed mercenaries working to destabilise Maduro’s administration.

The visit by the warship comes one week after the US embassy in Trinidad and Tobago warned Americans to stay away from US government facilities there. Local authorities said a reported threat against Americans prompted the warning.

Many people in Trinidad and Tobago criticise the warship’s docking in town.

At a recent demonstration outside the US 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,” he said. “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.

Associated Press, with additional reporting by Agence France-Presse