U.S. Southern Command announced Tuesday that the Norfolk, Virginia-based Navy hospital ship Comfort will deploy next month to the Caribbean region and Central and South America to provide humanitarian assistance, including assisting refugees affected by the political crisis in Venezuela.

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The announcement came as the Pentagon and other South American countries increased calls for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to step down. On Tuesday, Acting U.S. Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and Colombian Vice President Marta Lucia Ramirez issued a joint statement following a meeting at the Pentagon, calling for a peaceful transition of power to opposition leader Juan Guaido.

U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters Friday that his administration is interested in getting humanitarian aid to those affected by the economic and political upheaval over the Venezuelan presidency.

Trump downplayed any military response after spending time on the phone with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He said he “feels the same way” as Putin, who Trump said “is not looking at all to get involved in Venezuela other than he’d like to see something positive happen for Venezuela.”

The 1,000-bed Comfort will be gone for five months, making visits to several yet-to-be-named countries in “support of regional partners and in response to the regional impacts of the Venezuela political and economic crisis,” SOUTHCOM said in a news release.

The ship’s contingent of U.S. military medical personnel will provide medical assistance based on the needs and requests of host countries and health ministries, the release notes…. (Read More Click Here) (Excerpts from Patricia Kime article on Military.com)