US troops will arrive this weekend in Trinidad and Tobago to carry out military exercises for several days, as part of Washington’s naval deployment in the Caribbean Sea, the Trinidadian Foreign Ministry announced today.
The small Caribbean country is located very close to Venezuela, and the distance from the island of Trinidad to the Venezuelan coast is just eleven kilometers at its closest point.
The first troops will arrive next Sunday in Port of Spain, the Trinidadian capital, on the destroyer USS Gravely, which will be followed later by the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, as detailed by the ministry in a statement.
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The USS Gravely “will conduct joint training with the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force” and will depart on the 30th, he added.
“These efforts reinforce interoperability, strengthen long-term defense cooperation, and improve operational readiness among allied forces,” he added.
Meanwhile, the United States Marine Corps will conduct military exercises with Trinidad and Tobago off the coast of Venezuela, whose government denounces that Washington seeks to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro with its military deployment in the Caribbean.
“The presence of U.S. military forces in Trinidad and Tobago underscores the United States’ commitment to regional security and cooperation in the Caribbean,” the statement added.
The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, has expressed her support for the deployment of military troops to its waters to try to remove Maduro
The United States has mobilized military ships, a submarine, and fighter jets for operations against drug trafficking, which has so far left 37 dead in nine bombings of alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
