Caribbean leaders ask to mediate U.S.-Venezuela conflict

Giving clear indications that they think war between the U.S. and Venezuela is imminent, Caribbean leaders offered themselves as 11th hour mediators at the weekend, saying military conflict will seriously affect the region.

- By BERT WILKINSON Special to the AmNews

arrives to dock for military exercises in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, Sunday, Oct. 26, 2025.

(AP Photo/Robert Taylor)

Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit, head of government in Dominica since 2004, led the offer to be interlocutors between Washington and Caracas even as the heavily armed guided missile destroyer, the USS Gravely, docked in Trinidad on Sunday, sparking fears that the Caribbean Community (Caricom) nation has senselessly lined up behind the U.S. in a war that does not directly concern it.

The vessel, with more than 300 sailors, docked in Port of Spain, presumably for joint security exercises with the local military, but it also means that this is the closest known position of the U.S. warship to Venezuela since the threat of war and regime change broke out in recent weeks. The two nations are separated by the Gulf of Paria, a 7-mile stretch of water used by the merchant marine, local fishermen, economic migrants heading for a new life in Trinidad, and those involved in illegal business among others.

Sharing a governing party platform with a visiting PM Skerrit, Barbadian Prime Minister Mia Mottley argued that war and military overreach are not the answer, but peaceful resolution to conflicts should be the route to take.