Now over a month since ousted Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was extracted from his Caracas compound by United States forces in a pre-dawn military operation that transported him to New York to face criminal charges, a number of US warships and military assets remain deployed in the Caribbean.

Days ago, one Arleigh Burke Class missile destroyer deployed to the US Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), the USS Stockdale, docked in Port-au-Prince ahead of the end of Haiti’s transitional Presidential Council’s mandate yesterday, accompanied by two US Coast Guard vessels.

FLASHBACK: Members of the crew stand on deck as the US guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely (DDG-107) docks at the Port of Port of Spain last October. —Photo: ISHMAEL SALANDY