- by Graham Holton
- The Guardian
- Issue #2176
The islands of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) are only 11 km from Venezuela. In 2025 the T&T government allowed the US military access to its airports, following the installation of a sophisticated radar system. In August the US began a military build-up in the southern Caribbean, not far from Venezuelan waters, to eventually include the world’s largest aircraft carrier, the USS Gerald R Ford, 15,000 troops, dozens of aircraft and a fleet of warships.
In October the US granted T&T permission to negotiate a gas deal with Venezuela without facing US sanctions. The two countries were to jointly develop the Dragon field in Venezuelan waters near the island of Tobago. The gas field holds an estimated 119 billion cubic metres of gas. After Trinidad allowed a US warship to dock at its capital, Port-of-Spain, the Maduro government announced the immediate termination of any “agreement, contract or negotiation” on natural gas supply between the two countries.
In December Venezuela accused Trinidad and Tobago of taking part in a US seizure of tankers holding Venezuelan oil, as part of President Donald Trump’s economic campaign against President Nicolás Maduro. Then-vice-president, Delcy Rodríguez, accused T&T prime minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, of turning the Caribbean nation “into an aircraft carrier of the American empire against Venezuela” in an “act of vassalage.”
PM Persad-Bissessar praised the US strikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific that killed more than 100 people, including Trinidadian citizens. On 21 December Persad-Bissessar accused the Caribbean Community (Caricom) of aligning itself with Maduro, whose administration “has imprisoned or murdered thousands of Venezuelans who oppose him.”
On 3 January, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, General John Daniel “Raizin” Caine said Operation Absolute Resolve attacked Venezuela using 150 aircraft launched from 20 bases across the Western Hemisphere. After the attacks and kidnapping of President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cillia Flores, Persad-Bissessar backflipped, swiftly distancing Trinidad and Tobago from the US military action. “Trinidad and Tobago is NOT a participant in any of these ongoing military operations. Trinidad and Tobago continues to maintain peaceful relations with the people of Venezuela.” Persad-Bissessar added that T&T looks forward to renewed cooperation and strengthening its long-standing friendship with the Venezuelan people.
Cooperation with the US could be key to T&T getting richer. If the US opens up Venezuela’s gas fields, T&T could access gas resources to feed its LNG plants and petrochemical industries, reducing its reliance on its declining domestic reserves. T&T would once again become a regional energy hub as it was in the 1970s.
There are benefits and risks for T&T as it tries to keep the US on side without offending Venezuela more than it has to. If the US opens up Venezuela’s gas fields, T&T could access gas resources to feed its LNG plants and petrochemical industries, reducing its reliance on its declining domestic reserves. These benefits are contingent on negotiated deals, regulatory approvals, political stability and the Venezuelan government not cutting off energy cooperation to T&T.
Contrary to US propaganda, the Trump administration is not “running Venezuela,” and T&T does not want to attract retaliation from future Venezuelan governments.
Civil society in T&T is more outspoken than its government. A coalition of T&T organisations issued a condemnation of US action, describing it as “an act of imperialism” and “an international crime.” The groups accused Washington of pursuing regime change under the guise of counter-narcotics operations and announced plans for a public demonstration outside the Venezuelan Embassy in Port-of-Spain. The statement was signed by All Mansions of Rastafari, Concerned Muslims of Trinidad and Tobago, the Emancipation Support Committee, Fishermen and Friends of the Sea, the Ifa/Orisa Council of Trinidad and Tobago, the Movement for Social Justice, the Network of NGOs for the Advancement of Women, the Trinidad and Tobago Scrap Iron Dealers Association, Trinbago for Palestine, and the Warao Nation of Trinidad and Tobago.
