US general to check Navy readiness for operation against Venezuela

Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, will visit Puerto Rico on November 24 to consult with the command of the U.S. Navy’s Caribbean forces regarding their readiness for a military operation against Venezuela, The New York Times reports, citing official sources.

The outlet notes that U.S. President Donald Trump has already approved CIA plans for covert operations inside Venezuela, potentially aimed at establishing a foothold for further actions.

General Caine, the chief architect of the large-scale “Southern Spear” operation targeting drug cartels in Latin America, will also visit one of the American warships stationed in the Caribbean.

The U.S. has already deployed a naval task force of 11 warships near Venezuela in the Caribbean, including a carrier strike group centred on the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Gerald Ford and three destroyers, two additional cruisers and two destroyers already stationed in the region, as well as an amphibious assault group comprising three large landing ships with 3,000 Marines on board.

By Khagan Isayev