Venezuela Warns Against ‘Aggressive’ US Naval Presence in Caribbean Sea

According to him, international news agencies "insist that there are tensions between Venezuela and the United States, but the right word is aggression, not tensions," TASS reported.

Maduro pointed out that the US had deployed eight warships, 1,200 missiles and a nuclear submarine near Venezuela, seeking to make "a peaceful nation tremble."

"The people really are trembling, but with outrage, anger, and patriotism," the president stressed. He added that "the people and the National Bolivarian Armed Forces will protect Venezuela’s territorial integrity, peace and future."

The Venezuelan leader welcomed a statement by the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC), which had expressed serious concern about the deployment of US warships to the southern part of the Caribbean Sea in violation of the Zone of Peace declared in the region in 2014.

Reuters reported earlier that three US missile destroyers (USS Gravely, USS Jason Dunham and USS Sampson) had been deployed near Venezuela as "part of an effort to address threats from Latin American drug cartels". Other reports mentioned the deployment of the USS Newport News submarine, the USS Lake Erie missile cruiser, landing ships and 4,500 troops.

US President Donald Trump, who accuses Venezuela of insufficient efforts to combat drug trafficking, announced on September 2 that the US military had eliminated 11 members of a Venezuelan drug cartel during an operation in international waters.