An American guided-missile destroyer sailed today to Port of Spain, the capital of Trinidad and Tobago, a small archipelago just ten kilometers from Venezuela, as US President Donald Trump steps up pressure on his Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolas Maduro.

The arrival of the USS Gravely and a unit of marines for joint exercises with Trinidad’s military was announced on Thursday by the government of the English-speaking country of 1.4 million people.

Washington has deployed seven warships to the Caribbean and Gulf of Mexico, officially as part of an operation against drug cartels, targeting Venezuela and its president in particular. Trump also announced that the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, the largest in the world, is expected in the area. On Friday, Maduro said it was an attempt by the US to “invent a new war”.

Trump accuses his counterpart of being directly involved in drug trafficking, which Maduro vehemently denies. According to Caracas, Washington is using drug trafficking as a pretext “to force regime change” and seize the country’s significant oil reserves.

In Port of Spain, some residents spoke out in favor of the presence of US forces so close to the Venezuelan coast. “They’re doing it to help clean up the drug problems,” said Lisa, a 52-year-old resident who did not want to give her last name. “It’s for good, many people will be freed from oppression (…) and crime,” he added.

Many, however, expressed concern about the destroyer’s deck. “If something happened between Venezuela and the US (…) we might get hit,” said Daniel Holder, 63, who disagrees with his government’s strategy. Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar is a staunch supporter of Trump and has adopted harsh rhetoric against crime and Venezuelan immigration to her country since taking office last May. He should let Washington and Caracas work out their differences “instead of trying to get in the way,” Holder commented.

Since the beginning of September, the US has carried out airstrikes against vessels it believes are drug traffickers in the Caribbean and Pacific. Ten such strikes are known to date, killing at least 43 people, according to an AFP tally based on US government data. One of the strikes, in mid-October, killed two citizens of Trinidad and Tobago, according to their families. The local authorities neither denied nor confirmed it.

Experts have expressed doubts about the legality of strikes in international and foreign territorial waters against suspects who have not been arrested or questioned.

“We don’t need all this killing and bombing, we just need peace and God,” said Rhonda Williams, a 38-year-old receptionist. “We don’t want war, we just want (…) to remain a peaceful, sovereign state,” commented a customer at the Hyatt Hotel, which is located opposite the waterfront where the USS Gravely is moored.

Randy Agard, an American citizen visiting the archipelago, said he had “mixed emotions” seeing the warship his country had sent. The US is “trying to get involved everywhere to control the whole world” but this is not done for people’s safety “it’s just a matter of control”, the 28-year-old argued.

Trinidad and Tobago is home to a large community of Venezuelans who are watching with concern as tensions rise in the region.

“Venezuela is going through a very difficult situation, socially and economically” which “is due to the government”, estimated 38-year-old Ali Ascanio who settled in the archipelago eight years ago. The sinking of the warship “is a worrying sign because we know it is a sign of war,” added the fruit and vegetable trader who hopes American pressure will force Maduro “to go soon.”

“It’s worrying, of course (…) because my family is there, in Venezuela” and the country “is not in a position to withstand an attack,” said Victor Rojas, a 35-year-old gardener.