Maroc - NEWSDAY.CO.TT - A la Une - 22/Oct 23:40

Delcy: TT economy would collapse without Venezuela gas

Venezuelan vice president Delcy Rodriguez has warned Trinidad and Tobago that its economy would collapse without gas deals with her country. However, she said the gas must be paid for and cautioned Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on relying on the US for access to Venezuelan gas. Criticising Persad-Bissessar, Delcy Rodriguez had a direct message to the people of TT. “Your prime minister is leading you off a cliff by believing (US Secretary of State) Marco Rubio’s promise to give you Venezuela’s gas for free. Venezuela’s gas comes with a price tag. Every molecule exported, be it to TT or other neighbours as planned, must be paid for,” Rodriguez said. “That is international co-operation and natural trade. Anything else is fantasy. They are deceiving her, and she is deceiving an entire country, misleading Trinidad’s business sectors. They will be left high and dry.” Rodriguez made the remarks on the afternoon of October 22 while delivering a fiery address at the Venezuela Productiva 2030 Business Expo Forum. The event was broadcast live on teleSUR’s YouTube channel. She said TT needs Venezuela’s gas, and the only way is through Venezuela’s government. “There is no other way. It is not Rubio who is going to give the gas to TT, it is Venezuela. You will see, sooner than later.” Rodriguez’s comments came amid renewed efforts to revive the Dragon gas deal between TT and Venezuela. Rodriguez referred to Persad-Bissessar as being “like Marco Rubio’s puppet.” Insisting that the US is “feeding” Persad-Bissessar with false promises, Rodriguez referred to a Venezuelan idiom, “pregnant birds,” to describe the false promises. “Marco is selling pregnant birds to the prime minister of TT, a country we have gas export agreements with,” she said. “If Venezuela stops exporting gas to Trinidad, their economy will collapse, affecting the Caribbean. President (Nicolas) Maduro has always been very responsible about this. It is part of Commander (Hugo) Chavez’s legacy, what Petrocaribe did for Caribbean countries.” Petrocaribe was an energy programme launched in 2005 in which Venezuela supplied crude oil to Caribbean nations at discounted prices. TT was not part of the agreement. Rodriguez charged that the US had “disrupted and blocked” the initiative. She added, “The US blocked the Petrocaribe programme, just look at the state of Haiti now. Well, they are trying to pull the same trick with Trinidad and their pipe dreams, selling them the false idea that they will take gas from Venezuela and gift it to Trinidad. Do you really think that is possible?” Persad-Bissessar recently held discussions with Rubio over matters relating to national security, energy security and economic security. On October 9, Attorney General John Jeremie confirmed that the country had obtained a licence from the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) to resume negotiations on the Dragon Gas project, a cross-border initiative involving Venezuela’s offshore reserves. OFAC operates under the US Treasury Department. Newsday asked Persad-Bissessar for a response but she did not reply to questions sent via WhatsApp up to publication. The post Delcy: TT economy would collapse without Venezuela gas appeared first on Trinidad and Tobago Newsday.