The exercise — hosted by Ecuador’s Navy near Mantra, Ecuador — involves allies Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Peru, Uruguay and a total of 13 warships.
Venezuela sent a fighter jet to buzz a U.S. reconnaissance operating in the Caribbean Sea on Friday, the Miami-based U.S. Southern Command reported Sunday.
The Pentagon is preparing to dispatch a hospital ship to Colombia and possibly other parts of South America to help relieve strain on health care systems overloaded by an influx of hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans who have fled that crisis-racked nation, Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday.