- NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 05/Sep 08:08

First Guyana, now Maduro’s gaze on Trinidad and Tobago

THE EDITOR: In the conduct of international relations there are no friendships, only interests pursued under the guise of international co-operation and mutual respect. Trump dumped the EU after decades of NATO defence co-operation. The EU now has to fend for its own self and has had to increase defence spending to avert potential Russian aggression post-Ukraine. Trump is anti-everybody with the latest casualty being India. Hitherto, both Guyana's VP Bharath Jagdeo, and to a lesser extent, returning President Irfaan Ali have been reluctant to co-operate with TT in the energy sector, with Jagdeo saying there will be no Guyanese gas on offer to TT. In the face of this, what does TT stand to gain from pledging unilaterally and unconditionally its territory, both sea and land, to be used as a staging post by the Americans should they intervene to stop a Venezuelan invasion of Guyana within the next five years? What will be our relations be, from today, with Venezuela until the invasion were to occur, God forbid? Venezuelan Defence Minister Lopez, Interior Minister Cabello and President Maduro have already labelled and lumped Guyana and TT as the common enemy bent on destabilising their country by TT and Guyanese mafias. The three have all threatened to respond militarily. Were hostilities to break out between Venezuela and the US naval armada anchored off the Caribbean coast of Venezuela, TT could well be in the firing zone. Is this ultra-strong, unprecedented, puzzling and radically pro-Guyana foreign policy an excessive means of TT courting Guyana to the negotiating table/rapprochement for advancing mutually beneficial co-operation in the energy sector, or was it merely to influence Monday’s elections in Georgetown? Are these policies in conflict with the geo-political imperative that binds Venezuela to TT in, inter alia, the energy sector with these two anti-Venezuela/pro-USA foreign policies namely the pro-Guyana and the support for the “drug-related” American blockade of the Venezuelan Caribbean coast? These two policies have now placed TT on the same level as Guyana on the military radar of Caracas and we cannot depend on Trump to come to our rescue in spite of the regional proposed anti-drug coalition arrangement. TT may have unwittingly exposed itself to Venezuelan gunboat diplomacy. TT could very well be next, after Guyana, for Venezuelan imperialistic forays in the Eastern Caribbean and South West Atlantic possibly to achieve expansion of its Atlantic maritime façade. STEPHEN KANGAL Port of Spain The post First Guyana, now Maduro’s gaze on Trinidad and Tobago appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.