Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro asserted Friday the United States was "fabricating a war" as Washington sent an aircraft carrier to the Caribbean, building up a military deployment there.
"They are fabricating a new eternal war; they promised they would never again get involved in a war, and they are fabricating a war that we are going to prevent," Maduro told state broadcasters.
Washington is deploying an aircraft carrier strike group to counter drug-trafficking organizations in Latin America, the Pentagon said Friday -- scaling up a military buildup that is fueling fears of war.
US President Donald Trump launched a military campaign in September, including 10 F-35 stealth warplanes and eight US Navy ships, in a campaign he said was aimed at "narco-terrorists."
Strikes on at least 10 boats have killed over 40 people so far, said by their governments and families to be mainly civilians, some of them fishermen out at sea.
Washington on Thursday announced joint military exercises with Trinidad and Tobago off Venezuela's coast.
The USS Gravely destroyer will dock in Port of Spain from October 26-30, and a contingent of US Marines will conduct joint training with the Trinidad and Tobago Defense Force, it said.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a press release)
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