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CARICOM foreign ministers will be writing to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, following a meeting of the group last week. They will be asking for notice where possible on actions that will impact the region and continued dialogue around the US presence in the Caribbean.

The meeting took place before the US president Donald Trump claimed its military carried out a strike on a Venezuelan drug boat which killed 11, on September 2.

The US Navy has deployed guided missile cruisers and the USS Newport News, a fast-attack nuclear-powered submarine carrying Tomahawk missiles, to the Southern Caribbean. The amphibious assault ships USS San Antonio and USS Fort Lauderdale, and landing helicopter dock USS Iwo Jima are set to join these vessels. The vessels assembling in the southern Caribbean have approximately 4,500 personnel on board. Half of them are members of the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU), an elite special force unit within the US Marine Corps.