The USS Gravely is in Trinidad and Tobago to conduct joint military exercises with the island nation, while Venezuela denounces that a “military provocation” is being planned. Photo: U.S. Navy / Derek Cole.
Guacamaya, October 27, 2025. The government of Venezuela expressed its concern this Monday about the joint military exercises between Trinidad and Tobago and the United States Southern Command, which are taking place from October 26 to 30.
The statement released by Vice President Delcy Rodríguez described these maneuvers as a potential “threat to Caribbean peace” and denounced the existence of alleged covert actions that could lead to border incidents.
Caracas compared the situation to “the provocations of the Battleship Maine in 1898 and the Gulf of Tonkin in 1964,” which served as pretexts, respectively, for the United States’ war against Spain in Cuba and its military intervention in Vietnam.
This statement comes shortly after the US Department of War announced the deployment of the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R. Ford, to the Caribbean.
The Maduro administration also accused the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, of “renouncing national sovereignty” and “subordinating her foreign policy to the hegemonic interests of Washington.” The text claims that the territory of Trinidad has become “an aircraft carrier for the United States’ war throughout the Caribbean against Venezuela, Colombia, and South America.”
The statement argues that by joining the US “militarist agenda,” the Government of Trinidad and Tobago would be violating the United Nations Charter, the Proclamation of Latin America and the Caribbean as a Zone of Peace adopted by CELAC, and the principles of CARICOM.
The text also mentions complaints about maritime incidents in which fishermen are alleged to have been affected, which the Venezuelan government considers “serious events” that must be investigated.
