Tobago

USS Gravely’s arrival comes as US military build-up in the region has increased tensions between Washington and Caracas.

A United States warship has arrived in Trinidad and Tobago, an island nation close to Venezuela, as tensions between Washington and Caracas continue to mount.

The USS Gravely, a guided-missile destroyer, reached the Trinidadian capital Port of Spain on Sunday with members of the US Marines on board, ahead of planned joint military exercises.

The warship has advanced weapons systems and can operate helicopters. Its recent activities include a deployment for counter-narcotics operations.

Its arrival near Venezuela comes as the administration of US President Donald Trump continues to increase the US’s military presence in the Caribbean, where it has in recent weeks conducted controversial, deadly strikes against boats that Washington claims are involved in drug trafficking.

The standoff between the two countries escalated further on Friday, when the Pentagon confirmed that it was deploying the USS Gerald R Ford, the world’s largest aircraft carrier, to the region.

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro, who was re-elected last year in what the US has dismissed as a fraudulent election, accused Washington of “fabricating” a war against him.

Without providing any evidence, the US president has accused Maduro of being the leader of the organised crime gang Tren de Aragua.

Reporting from Port of Spain on Sunday, Al Jazeera’s Julia Galiano said the Trinidadian government wanted to assure its people that they shouldn’t be worried by the warship’s arrival.

The country’s defence minister told Al Jazeera on Saturday that joint military operations were held regularly and that the US vessel’s presence was not a prelude to war.

However, Galiano said that locals had expressed “a lot more reservation” about the warship.

“People we spoke to today, for example, in the Sunday market, told us that they were frightened about what this could mean for their country,” she said.

Trinidadians who spoke to news agencies expressed similar concerns.

“If anything should happen with Venezuela and America, we as people who live on the outskirts of it … could end up getting a lash any time,” 64-year-old Daniel Holder told the AFP news agency.

“I am against my country being part of this,” he added.

Javed Ali, an associate professor at the University of Michigan who specialises in national security, told Al Jazeera on Sunday that the US’s actions in the region involved “the projection of a significant amount of military force” to put pressure on the Maduro regime.

“It is so difficult to know what the White House is thinking,” he noted, adding that the US military presence is not big enough to launch an invasion of Venezuela.

“Looking at how the US has conducted wars in the past, it would not be with a small footprint like this,” Ali said.

As part of its anti-drug operations, Washington deployed eight navy ships, 10 F-35 warplanes and a nuclear-powered submarine to the region in August, its largest military build-up in the area since its 1989 invasion of Panama.

On Saturday, Venezuela’s Defence Minister Vladimir Padrino said his country had begun coastal defence exercises to protect itself against “large-scale military threats”.

PORT-OF-SPAIN, Trinidad — Trinidad and Tobago’s prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, is praising a U.S. strike on a boat suspected of carrying drugs in the southern Caribbean.

President Trump said Tuesday that 11 people were killed aboard the boat that had departed Venezuela, which is located near Trinidad and Tobago.

“I, along with most of the country, am happy that the U.S. naval deployment is having success in their mission,” Persad-Bissessar said in a statement late Tuesday. “The pain and suffering the cartels have inflicted on our nation is immense. I have no sympathy for traffickers; the U.S. military should kill them all violently.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that the drugs aboard the vessel were likely headed to Trinidad or elsewhere in the Caribbean.

Persad-Bissessar said that restricting illegal guns, drugs and human trafficking would decrease violence in the Caribbean region and the twin-island nation of Trinidad and Tobago, which has imposed two state of emergencies in recent months.

“Our country has been ravaged by bloody violence and addiction because of the greed of the cartels,” Persad-Bissessar said. “The slaughter of our people is fueled by evil cartel traffickers.”

Other Caribbean leaders were more reserved in their remarks.

Barbados Today, a local news site, quoted Barbadian Foreign Minister Kerrie Symmonds as saying that foreign ministers within Caricom, a 15-member regional trade bloc, wrote to Rubio to ensure that future military operations within the Caribbean don’t occur without prior notice or explanation.

“What effectively we are trying to do is to work through the diplomatic channels of making sure that there are no surprises and practices, so that you get notification wherever it is feasible for actions that are going to have a foreseeable regional impact,” Symmonds was quoted as saying.

He said that ongoing dialogue would “avoid misunderstandings, and we can maintain and strengthen our mutual confidence with each other.”

Trump has said that the vessel targeted in the strike in international waters was operated by Tren de Aragua, a Venezuelan gang. The White House didn’t immediately explain how the military determined that those aboard the vessel were Tren de Aragua members.

The strike came after the U.S. announced last month that it planned to boost its maritime force in waters off Venezuela to fight threats from Latin American drug cartels.

SAN JOSÉ — The U.S. hopes a blowout win over the world’s 100th-ranked team can start to lessen the pessimism created by the Americans’ longest losing streak since 2007.

Malik Tillman scored twice and Diego Luna had a pair of assists in a 5-0 rout of Trinidad and Tobago on Sunday in the Americans’ CONCACAF Gold Cup opener.

“Really important I think to cut a little bit this — I don’t say negativity, but, yes … but it’s really important now to start the competition with a good feeling,” U.S. coach Mauricio Pochettino said.

Victory in the Group D opener ended a four-game losing streak and came after days of controversy over Christian Pulisic’s desire to rest during the Gold Cup and Pochettino not including the star in a pair of pre-tournament friendlies the attacker offered to play in.

Tillman scored in the 16th and 41st minutes for his first two international goals, both following giveaways by Alvin Jones, and Patrick Agyemang scored his fourth international goal in the 44th when Luna’s shot deflected off a foot.

“It was in our hands to show a reaction and I think we’ve done it today,” Tillman said. “We played a good game and it was nice to bounce back, have a good start to the tournament.”

Brenden Aaronson added his ninth goal in the 82nd and Haji Wright his fifth just 1 minute, 13 seconds later for the 16th-ranked Americans, who drew just 12,610 to PayPal Park.

“Malik is a talented player. It’s obvious that everyone can see,” Pochettino said. “October, November, when we met for the first time I think it was difficult to create this relationship that the player need(s) and the coach need(s) to trust and to trust each other. … I think now after a few weeks together I really start to understand him and he starts to understand us. And he’s very special, a very special talent and a very special kid.”

Luna, a 21-year-old who impressed Pochettino during his debut in January when he insisted he stay on the field with a broken nose, was playing not far from where he grew up and said he had gotten tickets for about 30 family and friends.

“Just an honor, right, to be able to dream about this day,” he said. “[To] start off a tournament like this back in my home city is awesome.”

Luna ran onto Jones’ back pass, dribbled down the left flank and crossed to Tillman for the second goal, then shot from just inside the penalty area for the goal that glanced off Tillman for a 3-0 lead.

“His performance was really good. He showed his character,” Pochettino said.

The Americans have won their group in 16 of 17 Gold Cups, along with a second-place finish behind Panama in 2011, and improved their group stage record to 41 wins, one loss and five draws. They play invited guest Saudi Arabia on Thursday at Austin, Texas, then close group play on June 22 against Haiti at Arlington, Texas.

Matt Freese was in goal in place of Matt Turner, who had started 14 consecutive competitive matches for the U.S. and 23 of 24 dating to the 2022 World Cup. The lone exception was a Gold Cup group stage game against St. Kitts and Nevis in 2023.

Pochettino said he wanted to create competition for Turner, who didn’t get into a Crystal Palace match after March 1. The coach said Turner told him he was disappointed with the decision but understood it and would compete to get playing time.