For­mer Prime Min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley has warned that the im­pend­ing ar­rival of US mil­i­tary as­sets in the Caribbean will test the Gov­ern­ment’s com­mit­ment to de­fend­ing the re­gion as a zone of peace.

Dr Row­ley is­sued the com­ments via What­sApp to Guardian Me­dia and lat­er shared them on Face­book, urg­ing the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress ad­min­is­tra­tion to de­clare its po­si­tion “now that the chick­ens have come home to roost”.

For­eign news agen­cies have re­port­ed that three de­stroy­ers—the USS Grave­ly, USS Ja­son Dun­ham, and USS Samp­son—are set to ar­rive off Venezuela, with about 4,000 sailors and marines aboard. An of­fi­cial said the fleet could car­ry out in­tel­li­gence op­er­a­tions or serve as a launch­ing pad for strikes if au­tho­rised.