Venezuela on Sunday blasted the arrival in nearby Trinidad and Tobago of a US warship for military exercises as a “provocation” and claimed it had arrested mercenaries with ties to the CIA.
“Venezuela denounces the military provocation of Trinidad and Tobago, in coordination with the CIA, aimed at provoking a war in the Caribbean,” President Nicolas Maduro’s government said in a statement.
Hours after the USS Gravely docked on the island of Trinidad, Caracas added that it had arrested “a group of mercenaries” whom it accused of mounting a “false flag attack” that could escalate into “a full-blown military confrontation.”
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