Last week’s incursion by the U.S. military into Venezuela to remove the country’s president Nicolas Maduro involved a large build-up of ships, air power and troops in the Southern Caribbean. For a few days, the U.S. imposed no-fly zones in the islands and along South America’s north coast to the inconvenience of thousands of holiday tourists.
To find out how the military presence in the Caribbean has affected the cruising community, we reached out to old friend Elaine Lembo who is the editor of Caribbean Compass magazine and well connected to information sources throughout the area.
As it turns out, she had already published a report on the situation on the Caribbean Compass website which includes remarks from Joan Conover who is the president of the Seven Seas Cruising Association. An old Caribbean hand, Joan had sourced information from a broad cross-section of public and governmental websites.
According to these reliable sources, the military operations and no fly zone orders have not affected the Caribbean cruising community. Trinidad & Tobago, which is the closest country to the Venezuelan coast and a staging area for the U.S. forces, is unaffected and the marinas and yacht facilities at Chagauramas are open for business.
The Caribbean Safety and Security net, which tracks incidents and security threats for the cruising community, has not had any incident reports in the southern islands or along the north coast of South America.
Half a dozen other sources indicate that cruisers in the Eastern Caribbean should be aware of the heightened military and coast guard activity but do not have to worry about restrictions. The common advice is for skippers to stay in contact with local marinas, fellow cruisers and local authorities when planning cruising routes and destinations.
Those intending to leave their boats in Trinidad & Tobago for the 2026 hurricane season should make reservations early and then stay in touch with the boat yard management who will have the most up-to-date information.
In an interview with The New York Times last Thursday, President Trump told reporters that he thought the U.S. military would be on station on the Venezuelan coast for many months or years to come.
