US Warship Arrives, Just 'Vigilance' Not 'Containment'
The USS Gravely , a guided-missile destroyer, just popped up in Trinidad and Tobago, adjacent to Venezuela. Al Jazeera frames this as part of 'increased tensions' between Washington and Caracas. What it cleverly omits is the long, storied history of U.S. 'maritime security' in Latin America, which almost invariably precedes Washington's preferred regime changes, resource grabs, or military
interventions. Remember the Monroe Doctrine? The Bay of Pigs? From the United Fruit Company to Operation Condor, U.S. 'concerns' about 'stability' and 'democracy' have consistently coincided with securing strategic resources or pushing out uncooperative leaders. This isn't 'tensions'; it's a playbook. One might wonder if the Venezuelan government's recent oil deals with non-allies, or their
refusal to march to Washington's tune, has anything to do with this sudden naval interest. It's not about drug interdiction when a destroyer shows up; it's about projecting power. Again.