Trinidad and Tobago Leader Backs US Amid Pressure on Venezuela

Kamla Persad-Bissessar, the prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, on Dec. 19 reiterated her support for the United States as it increases military activity off nearby Venezuela.

“If anyone comes to attack our country, who do you think will defend us? The United States has the military might and the power,” Persad-Bissessar wrote on X.

“Understand where our help comes from. Understand who can protect and defend Trinidad and Tobago. Right now, there is only one country in the world that can do so. They have the equipment. They have the money. They have the assets.”

The United States is ramping up pressure against Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro’s regime, which U.S. officials have accused of drug trafficking and corruption. Maduro has denied the allegations.

At the nearest point, Trinidad and Tobago is separated from Venezuela by only seven miles of sea.

The prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago said she understands concerns from her citizens about the current tensions in the region, but she also said there is “nothing to fear.”

“It is the height of hypocrisy and unkindness that there are individuals in our country who wish to fight the Americans,” Persad-Bissessar wrote on X. “I repeat: Trinidad and Tobago stands with the United States in a strong bilateral relationship.”

She praised the United States as her country’s largest trading partner and one of the oldest, stating that Venezuela accounts for “just .0003” of trade.

Trump said earlier this week that he has not ruled out the possibility of war with Venezuela, days after he ordered a blockade against sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.

In August, the Department of Justice raised its reward to $50 million for information leading to Maduro’s arrest.

The United States is also continuing its airstrikes against drug-smuggling boats in the Caribbean and Pacific—an initiative to halt drug trafficking into the United States called Operation Southern Spear. This week, the total death count of narco-terrorists killed by U.S. airstrikes surpassed 100.

After attending a closed-door Senate briefing on the strikes, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) told NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo on Dec. 26: “This idea that the media has put out that the military is just picking off any boat it comes across, that’s just not true. There’s extensive intelligence, and they know exactly who’s on that boat and what’s on that boat.”

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) is calling for public disclosure related to the strikes.

In November, U.S. Marines and members of the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force conducted joint drills in what may have been a show of force against nearby Venezuela.

Earlier the same month, the USS Gerald R. Ford aircraft carrier strike group entered the Latin America region, tasked with enhancing “existing capabilities to disrupt narcotics trafficking and degrade and dismantle Transnational Criminal Organizations.”