WILLEMSTAD - Britain’s navy and marines are conducting military exercises close to Venezuela,

The Mounts Bay, a giant Royal Fleet Auxiliary landing ship, spent New Year in Miami embarking a US coastguard helicopter for the first time.

It then sailed south to within 50 miles of the Venezuelan coast and had docked in Caracas Bay, in Curacao, on January 21.

The Royal Navy claims the vessel is working on counternarcotics “take-down” operations with the US Southern Command – though it is this branch of the Pentagon that would lead an attack on Venezuela.

Meanwhile, British marines are conducting jungle warfare training in Belize. The British Ministry of Defense (MoD) has described their deployment as “routine.”

They arrived there in mid-January when Britain was ratcheting up its diplomatic and economic campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Venezuela Solidarity Campaign secretary Francisco Dominguez told the media: “We are extremely concerned that Britain may join any military attack unleashed by the US against Venezuela.”

Stop the War Coalition campaigner Mayer Wakefield echoed this concern, saying: “Britain’s recent history of catastrophic military interventions should rule out any UK participation in Donald Trump’s attempts to destabilize a democratically elected government in Venezuela.”