Venezuela suspended an energy agreement with Trinidad and Tobago on Monday, hours after Port of Spain welcomed a US warship for military exercises in the Caribbean.
The arrival of the military vessel, which was conducting joint exercises in Caribbean waters, drew immediate condemnation from Venezuela. Caracas described it as a direct "threat" orchestrated by Trinidadian Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
During his weekly television show Monday, President Nicolas Maduro fiercely accused Trinidad of acting as the "aircraft carrier of the US empire" and declared he was left with no choice but to withdraw from treaties signed with the island nation a decade ago.
"Faced with the prime minister's threat to turn Trinidad and Tobago into the aircraft carrier of the US empire against Venezuela and South America, there is only one alternative," he said. "After reading the report, I have approved the precautionary measure of immediately suspending all agreements."
Both nations had signed joint projects in 2023 for the exploitation of gas shared across their maritime borders. Although the US government initially suspended the license for the project in April, it was renewed at the end of September.
Trinidad and Tobago, with 1.4 million people, announced the arrival of the USS Gravely and a unit of marines for exercises with the local army last Thursday.
Persad-Bissessar described Venezuela's action as "blackmail," emphasizing her nation's commitment to independent development.
"Our future does not depend on Venezuela and never has," she told Trinidad and Tobago Newsday. "We have plans and projects to boost our economy, both in the energy sector and in other sectors."
She said her government has been moving away from reliance on the joint Dragon gas field, which sits in Venezuelan waters near Trinidad.
“The last … government mistakenly placed all their hopes in the Dragon project. We have not done so,” said Persad-Bissessar.
The dispute occurs amid heightened US military activity in the region.
Since September, when the Trump administration first deployed ships to the southern Caribbean, it has launched 10 strikes against alleged drug-carrying vessels, resulting in at least 43 deaths in the controversial attacks.
By Laura Gamba in Bogota, Colombia
Anadolu Agency
energy@aa.com.tr
