Caracas, Venezuela – Venezuela has criticised the Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago, which lies just off its coast, for conducting a joint military exercise with the United States and allowing a US warship to dock.

“Venezuela denounces the military provocation of Trinidad and Tobago, in coordination with the CIA, aimed at provoking a war in the Caribbean,” Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s administration said in a statement on Sunday.

Trinidad and Tobago lies just 11km (6.8 miles) from Venezuela’s coast at its closest point.

In the statement posted by Executive Vice President Delcy Rodriguez on her Telegram channel, Venezuela accused the island nation of acting as a ‘military colony’ for the United States to conduct ‘war across the Caribbean against Venezuela, against Colombia, and against all of South America’.

US destroyer docks in Trinidad

Earlier on Sunday, USS Gravely, a guided missile destroyer with US marines on board, docked in Trinidad and Tobago’s capital.

The warship is in the Caribbean nation for a four-day visit, which will include joint training with local defence forces.

It carries advanced weapons, including long-range Tomahawk missiles, and can launch helicopters.

The docking of the USS Gravely comes just days after the US defence department ordered the deployment of the world’s biggest aircraft carrier, the USS Ford and its strike group, to the region.

The USS Ford, which was ordered to the Caribbean on Friday, carries dozens of fighter jets along with electronic warfare jets and surveillance aircraft.

Caribbean sees biggest buildup of US forces in decades

The Caribbean region has seen an unusually large buildup of US military forces in the waters off Venezuela since late August.

More than 10,000 US troops and dozens of fighter jets were already in the region as of mid-October, according to the New York Times. Around half of the US troops were aboard eight warships, the Times says, while the rest are based in Puerto Rico, some 800km from Venezuela’s coast.

The administration of President Donald Trump, who has accused Maduro of leading a drug cartel, says the buildup is part of an operation to counter drug trafficking to the US.

The US has ramped up its strikes on boats in the Caribbean and Pacific that the Trump administration claims are trafficking drugs, hitting at least 10 vessels and killing at least 43 people since September.

But the increase of US troops is fuelling speculation that the Trump administration wants to oust Maduro.

‘False flag attack’

In Sunday’s statement, Venezuela said it had captured a ‘group of mercenaries’ with links to the CIA and whose goal is to carry out a false-flag attack in the region.

A false flag attack is an operation when an act is carried out in such a way that a different party appears responsible.

“A false flag attack is underway in waters bordering Trinidad and Tobago or from Trinidadian or Venezuelan territory to generate a full military confrontation with our country,” Venezuela’s government said in the statement.

The statement didn’t give further details or evidence of the false flag attack accusations.

Venezuela regularly claims to have arrested mercenaries linked to the CIA or the intelligence agencies of other countries, who, it says, are working to destabilise Maduro’s administration.

US President Donald Trump earlier in October confirmed reports that he authorised the CIA to carry out covert operations in Venezuela.

DW