U.S. guided-missile cruiser crosses Panama Canal, warships deployed to Venezuela

Summary

A U.S. guided-missile cruiser, USS Lake Erie, was seen crossing the Panama Canal from the Pacific to the Caribbean on Friday night, after the Trump administration deployed warships near the coast of Venezuela.AFP journalists saw the naval vessel passing through one of the canal's locks at around 9:30 pm and navigating east toward the Atlantic.The United States has said the deployment of warships to the southern Caribbean, near Venezuela's territorial waters, was an anti-drug trafficking operation."I didn't know the ship was going to pass... I was surprised," Alfredo Cedeno, a 32-year-old health technician, who took photos of the cruiser, told AFP. A woman takes pictures as the U.S. Navy warship USS Lake Erie (CG 70) crosses the Pedro Miguel Locks of the Panama Canal amid a U.S. naval deployment near the coast of Venezuela in Panama City on August 29, 2025. MARTIN BERNETTI/AFP via Getty Images The Lake Erie had been moored for the past two days at the Port of Rodman, at the canal's Pacific entrance. Washington has accused Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro of leading a drug cartel and has doubled the bounty for his capture to $50 million.The U.S. has, however, made no public threat to invade Venezuela.Caracas announced on Monday the deployment of 15,000 security forces to the Colombian border for anti-drug trafficking operations.A day later, Venezuela announced that it would patrol its territorial waters with drones and navy ships. Maduro also claimed to have mobilized more than four million militia members in response to what he called "outlandish threats" by the U.S. Thousands of civil servants, housewives and retirees lined up in Venezuela's capital last weekend to join the country's militia.Since returning to power in January, President Trump's attacks on Venezuela have focused chiefly on its powerful gangs, some of which operate inside the United States. But his policy of maximum pressure on Venezuela, including an oil embargo still in effect, failed to dislodg...