Regional tensions flare as US special forces shadow ship loiters near Venezuela

Regional tensions are flaring in the Caribbean as the forces of US empire close in on Venezuela. The oil-rich country suspended an energy agreement with Trinidad and Tobago after the US military arrived in the island nation.

Reuters reported that Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro had called a stop to the existing agreement on 27 October:

His order immediately suspended all aspects of the energy agreement with Trinidad and Tobago, he said, and Congress and the Supreme Court will be asked to weigh in with additional recommendations.

That would likely mean Venezuela would revoke the license to develop the massive Dragon natural gas field, among other projects.

Shaping for war

The decisions follow the arrival of a US warship in Trinidad on Monday 27 October. A US carrier fleet is also on its way to the Caribbean. As the Canary has previously reported, US president Donald Trump has launched a shadow war in the region in recent months.

The US insists this is a fight against ‘narco-traffickers’. Critics, including a pro-peace alliance of Caribbean nations, says this is imperialism under the old pretext of a war on drugs. Meanwhile, in a spectacular bit of bluster, US defence secretary Pete Hegseth recently tried to compare the US fight against cartels to the war against Al Qaeda.

Venezuela is not a major drug-producing country. But it is a major producer of oil. As Progressive International’s David Adler has pointed out, the US is attempting to conflate two of America’s worst ever policies into a rationale for war:

Somehow, the United States of America has found a way to combine two of its greatest foreign policy failures — the Iraq War and the War on Drugs — into a single regime change narrative…. and sell it again to the mainstream media. Incredible. https://t.co/TVJqIuZ6d8

— David Adler (@davidrkadler) October 28, 2025

Shadow ship: escalation is well underway

As part of the US escalation, heavy bombers have buzzed off the coast of Venezuela:

U.S. Air Force B-1B's switched off transponders & reappeared off Venezuela coast. https://t.co/g61sJLSWTf pic.twitter.com/uz2fpnDM6t

— MenchOsint (@MenchOsint) October 27, 2025

And the US’s special forces ship MV Ocean Trader has been seen docked in Puerto Rico, effectively a US colony in the Caribbean:

A cargo transfered from the US Special Ops mothership "MV Ocean Trader" in Puerto Rico to a C-17A reg 94-0065.

Unclear what is inside … but i guess next stop is closer to Venezuela ? 👀 https://t.co/npDztcvFpf pic.twitter.com/afrlHGtKWE

— MenchOsint (@MenchOsint) October 27, 2025

US military magazine Task and Purpose describes the Ocean Trader as “a floating barracks, helicopter base and command center for special ops forces”.

You can read a full report on the sinister vessel here. Trump has not ruled out ground attacks on top of airstrikes against targets inside Venezuela. But the fact remains, the legal basis for US actions in the region is dubious. It’s been described as “an extraordinary assertion of expanded presidential power” by law experts.

Featured image via the Canary