Venezuela says US military exercises on nearby island a 'provocation'

The ship's arrival comes amid a mounting military campaign by US President Donald Trump against alleged drug-traffickers in Latin America, which has largely targeted Venezuelans and thus far been limited to deadly strikes in international waters.

Trump has increasingly threatened in recent days to take the campaign on land, while Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro claims Washington is plotting his ouster.

Trinidad and Tobago, which is situated just 11 kilometers (6.8 miles) from the Venezuelan coast at its closest point, has sided with Washington against its neighbor.

Venezuela angrily denounced "the military provocation of Trinidad and Tobago, in coordination with the CIA, aimed at provoking a war in the Caribbean."

Caracas added that it had arrested "a group of mercenaries" with links to the CIA, days after Trump said he had authorized 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 destabilize Maduro's administration.

- US strikes on boats -

The USS Gravely is one of several warships Washington deployed to the Caribbean in August as part of an anti-drugs campaign that Venezuela sees as a front for trying to topple Maduro, whose reelection Washington rejects as fraudulent.

Tensions escalated sharply on Friday, when the Pentagon also ordered the deployment of the world's biggest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, to the region.

US forces have blown up at least 10 boats they claimed were smuggling narcotics, killing at least 43 people, since September.

The standoff has pulled in Colombia's Gustavo Petro, a sharp critic of the US strikes who was sanctioned by Washington on Friday for allegedly allowing drug production to flourish.

Caracas has accused Trinidad and Tobago, a laid-back twin-island nation of 1.4 million people whose Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar is fiercely critical of Maduro, of serving as "a US aircraft carrier."

The Trinidad and Tobago government said the USS Gravely's visit "aims to bolster the fight against transnational crime and build resilience through training, humanitarian activities, and security cooperation."

It values its relationship "with the people of Venezuela" and remains committed to "the creation of a safer, stronger and more prosperous region," a government statement said.

- 'Getting a lash' -

In Port of Spain, some people welcomed the government's show of support for Trump's campaign but others worried about getting caught up in a regional conflict.

"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, a Rastafarian who wore a white turban, told AFP.

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

Victor Rojas, a 38-year-old carpenter who has been living in Trinidad and Tobago for the past eight years, said he was worried for his family back home.

"Venezuela is not in a position to weather an attack right now," he said, referring to the country's economic collapse under Maduro.

Trinidad and Tobago, which acts as a hub in the Caribbean drug trade, has itself been caught up in the US campaign of strikes on suspected drug boats.

Two Trinidadian men were killed in a strike on a vessel that set out from Venezuela in mid-October, according to their families. 

The mother of one of the victims insisted he was a fisherman, not a drug trafficker.

Local authorities have not yet confirmed their deaths.

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