Sobers: US troops to return to Trinidad and Tobago for joint military training

US Marines with the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit conduct a live-fire deck shoot aboard USS Iwo Jima while underway in the Caribbean Sea. -

FOREIGN and Caricom Affairs Minister Sean Sobers has confirmed that, come next Monday, United States military personnel from the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) will return to Trinidad as part of a joint military training exercise with the TT Defence Force, declaring: "steel sharpens steel!"

The impending return of US troops to these shores comes on the heel – only a month ago – of a similar training exercise, again with the MEU, which saw American warship the USS Gravely sailing into Port of Spain on October 26. It stayed in Trinidad for just under a week.

That training exercise was heavily criticised by the Nicolas Maduro-led regime in Venezuela which accused the TT government of fomenting the possibility of war between the US and Venezuela.

At a press conference at his ministry's St Clair office on November 14, Sobers defended the upcoming exercise which runs from November 16-21, saying it was the local armed forces.

"The government, in our manifesto, promised to return order to TT, and this is exactly what we are doing. The focus of the upcoming exercises would be military-to-military engagements, allowing personnel from both countries to become familiar with each other's equipment, tactics and techniques.

"The exercise will challenge the participants, offering them opportunities to expand their expertise and professional development," Sobers said.

He said the exercises would occur across TT in both rural and urban environments, with operations scheduled primarily during dusk and after dark and would include some US military assets like the MEU's helicopters.

He added: "For you to become better, stronger, brighter, faster you have to build and train with somebody that is stronger, faster, better, brighter or has a better capacity than yourselves."

Sobers said the US embassy would participate in outreach activities across both islands. Building the TTDF's capacity, he reiterated, was critical, especially to help combat the flow of illegal drugs and weapons into the country.

"TT continues, unfortunately, to be burdened by the scourge of gun-related crimes and gang violence. These intensified exercises form part of our co-ordinated strategy to ensure our personnel are optimally trained and equipped to address these issues in our domestic environment, which has taken a tremendous toll on our society."

US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Dr Jenifer Neidhart de Ortiz said the 22nd MEU’s presence in the Caribbean supports US Southern Command's (US SOUTHCOM) mission to promote regional stability, counter transnational threats and enhance disaster response capabilities.

“The exercises are conducted in close co-ordination with TTDF leadership, local and national government officials, and emergency services to ensure community safety and uphold cultural respect.

“The engagement prioritises partnership, professionalism, and shared experiences, including meals and informal interactions that foster camaraderie and mutual respect,” Ortiz said.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has been a fierce supporter and advocate of US President Trump's war on narco-terrorists and traffickers. The US has over the past few months, sent a major military fleet including warships, submarines and thousands of troops to the southern Caribbean Sea, where it has engaged in the bombing of dozens of boats killing over 80 alleged Venezuelan narco-traffickers.

Maduro has claimed this was not about fighting narco-traffickers but about regime change in his country. He has since but Venezuela's military on high alert and called out and armed thousands of civilian militias to defend his government.

Persad-Bissessar's support of Trump has soured TT/Venezuelan relations with Maduro's government declaring her persona non grata.

NOT ABOUT INTEL GATHERING

Sobers denied that the MEU's presence in Trinidad was an intelligence-gathering operation and a precursor to any military action against Caracas. He also denied that any of TT's forces would be involved in any military escalation between the US and Venezuela.

While reserving comment on the conditions of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) signed with the US in December 2024, Sobers said the arrangement does not allow the US military to launch any attack from within TT's territory without consent from the TT government.

While Sobers labelled any concern over war erupting to overthrow Maduro as conjecture, he said the government would back the TT population should it happen.

“If it happens, trust that your Government will stand with you and we will make the best possible decisions in the interest of the people of TT. That is what I can say.”

On November 13, US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced via his X account, that Operation Southern Spear was launched to combat narco-trafficking. There have been no further details on this operation.

The world's largest military aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford and its carrier strike group has since arrived in the southern Caribbean Sea.

Friday's press conference was announced to the media, 35 minutes before its scheduled 11.30 am start time, after public concern over the exercise, which Attorney General John Jeremie revealed in an interview with the UK Financial Times and which was published on November 13.

Jeremie drove past reporters stationed outside the Red House waiting to try and get clarification on the exercises ahead of Friday's Senate sitting. When contacted, he informed Newsday of the press conference.

GRIFFITH: THIS IS MOST UNUSUAL

Former police commissioner Gary Griffith, who spent 17 years in the TTDF, told Newsday while joint training operations between the US and TT forces were normal, the close timing of these two training exercises was not.

"Never before have I seen it become back-to-back and so close because the US would have most of their exercises more in the northern part of the Caribbean for obvious reasons; because their base for SOUTHCOM is located more in the area with Florida. So the further south they go, it is going to be more costly," he said.

The Gerald R Ford carrier strike group in the Western Atlantic Ocean. -

Griffith believes there would be more exercises by US forces under the label of "training" or shore leave for sailors, as it continues to build military capacity in the Caribbean.

Like Sobers, he believes the training would be invaluable to the TTDF and should not be objected to.

However, he said it was time for allies to move beyond training and towards equipping the TTDF with the technology to defend TT, especially since Venezuela began accusing this country back in June, of trying to destabilise its government.

"We need to start making requests to the US to start revamping our Air Guard, we need to get the type of technology and equipment to assist us in the eventuality of any armed conflict such as surface-to-air missiles, so as to be able to intercept any missile launched from any country at TT, and to assist us in refurbishing and repairing the number of Coast Guard vessels that have been left idle or dilapidated because the previous (PNM) administration neglected it."

'GOV'T UNDERESTIMATING CITIZENS' INTELLIGENCE'

Former Foreign and Caricom Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne has accused Sobers and the prime minister of underestimating the population's intelligence and that of the wider Caribbean.

"The people are observing the deployment of the largest aircraft carrier ever built and so many other naval assets in a massive armada that is designed to engage in warfare against nuclear superpowers, and our government expects us to conclude that those assets are in the southern Caribbean to shoot alleged drug pirogues, to paint schools in TT, and conduct periodic training exercises," Dr Browne told Newsday.

"The US War Secretary on one day this week announced he has activated Operation Southern Spear, and the very next day our Government announces the arrival of a US Marine Expeditionary Unit, but our naive Government expects the people not to connect the dots and recognise that this Government is acting as a willing pawn in a military project that targets regime change and puts us all potentially in the cross-hairs of war."

He said that while the US Government is not obliged to communicate comprehensively with TT citizens, the local authorities are.

Browne said there will always be the need for training for uniformed services within Caricom, and the Opposition always welcomes regional and international co-ordination and collaboration "for the improvement of drug interdiction and successful lawful actions to address the major challenges of our times."

He also condemned government's continued support of the airstrikes, which the United Nations declared as violating international law.