Overview
- The guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely arrived in Trinidad and Tobago with a Marine unit for officially announced joint exercises, visible off Port of Spain roughly ten kilometers from Venezuela.
- The deployment adds to a larger U.S. presence that includes the Gerald R. Ford carrier strike group and air and naval assets operating from the Puerto Rico area.
- The Pentagon says operations targeting suspected traffickers since mid-September have hit multiple vessels and resulted in 43 deaths, including a recent strike on a boat linked to Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua.
- Senator Lindsey Graham said President Trump may soon notify Congress about potential future operations against Venezuela and Colombia, calling ground raids a real possibility.
- Venezuela accuses Washington of preparing for war and says its forces are ready to defend territory, while Brazil’s President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has offered to mediate between the two sides.