U.S. Embassy in Ecuador on Wednesday: “The operation will enhance the capacity of the Ecuadorian military forces to combat narco-terrorists, including strengthening intelligence gathering and anti-drug trafficking capabilities, and is designed to protect the United States and Ecuador from the threats we share.”

A pair of near-misses between passenger jets and US Air Force aircraft off the coast of Venezuela last weekend raise questions about air travel in the Southern Caribbean.

The government of Trinidad and Tobago says it will allow the U.S. military access to its airports in upcoming weeks as tensions between the United States and Venezuela remain high.

The U.S. military has flown a pair of fighter jets over the Gulf of Venezuela in what appears to be the closest American warplanes have come to the South American country’s airspace since the start of