Navy destroyer sails near Venezuelan coast in clear message to Maduro regime
Reuters Staff
CARACAS (Reuters) - A U.S. Navy ship navigated near the Venezuelan coast on Tuesday in what the U.S. military's Southern Command called a "freedom of navigation operation," a day after a cargo ship from U.S. foe Iran docked at a port of the South American country.
In a post on its website, the Southern Command said the USS Nitze, a guided missile destroyer, sailed in an area outside Venezuela's territorial waters — which extend some 12 nautical miles from its coasts — but within an area the Venezuelan government "falsely claims to have control over."
The move comes after the Trump administration in April said it was deploying more U.S. military assets to the Caribbean in part to disrupt alleged narcotics shipments by Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, a socialist viewed as illegitimate by the United States and dozens of other mostly Western countries.
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