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A US guided-missile cruiser crossed the Panama Canal on the night of August 29, adding to Washington’s growing naval presence in the southern Caribbean close to Venezuela.

According to French outlet AFP, the USS Lake Erie, a Ticonderoga-class cruiser based in San Diego, California, was seen entering the canal at around 9.30 pm before continuing eastward into the Atlantic.

The vessel had been moored for two days at the Port of Rodman, near the canal’s Pacific entrance, before beginning its transit.