US warship enters Panama Canal, heading toward Caribbean

A US guided missile cruiser, USS Lake Erie, was seen crossing the Panama Canal from the Pacific to the Caribbean Friday night, after the Trump administration deployed warships near the coast of Venezuela.

The naval vessel passing through one of the canal's locks at around 9:30 PM on Saturday 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.