The US guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely (DDG-107) will moor in Port of Spain in a matter of days, bringing with it long‑range Tomahawk cruise missiles, automated missile‑defense radars and a crew trained to strike ashore or to fight below water.

The Arleigh-Burke class destroyer is an Aegis‑equipped warship- a tangible display of power typically reserved for distant threats of war and international conflict.

It arrives against a backdrop of an expanded US naval and military presence in the Caribbean, its sanctioning of Venezuelan gangs as designated global terrorists, and Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as its leader, and at least ten lethal US boat-strikes in the Caribbean and Pacific that have now killed at least 43.