Venezuela Moves to Halt Energy Deals with Trinidad over US Military Provocation

By Staff, Agencies

Venezuela’s Vice President and Oil Minister Delcy Rodríguez announced on Monday that she will urge President Nicolás Maduro to suspend all energy agreements with Trinidad and Tobago, including ongoing gas projects, in response to what Caracas has described as a “US-led military provocation” in the Caribbean.

The move follows joint military drills between the United States and Trinidad and Tobago, which Venezuela denounced as a direct threat to regional peace and sovereignty.

“The prime minister of Trinidad has decided to join the war-mongering agenda of the United States,” Rodríguez declared during a televised address. She accused Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar of adopting a “hostile attitude” toward Venezuela and serving Washington’s strategic interests in Latin America.

Rodríguez’s announcement marks a sharp escalation in tensions following her earlier demand that Trinidad pay for any natural gas supplied by Venezuela. Her statement came after Port of Spain sought US authorization to negotiate a joint offshore gas project near the two countries’ maritime border—a move Caracas viewed as a violation of sovereignty.

Venezuela’s leadership has repeatedly condemned Trinidad’s growing military cooperation with Washington, labeling the island nation a “military colony” being used to provoke confrontation in the region.

On Sunday, the US destroyer USS Gravely, armed with guided missiles, marines, and helicopters, docked in the Port of Spain to participate in joint exercises with Trinidad’s navy. Rodríguez denounced the exercises as a “CIA-backed provocation aimed at igniting war in the Caribbean.”

“Venezuela denounces the military provocation of Trinidad and Tobago, in coordination with the CIA, aimed at provoking a war in the Caribbean,” she said, accusing the island nation of surrendering its sovereignty to Washington’s agenda.

Trinidad and Tobago, located just 11 kilometers off Venezuela’s coast, has become the focal point of the latest US military buildup in the Caribbean. The USS Gravely’s visit follows the Trump administration’s order to deploy the USS Ford carrier strike group—CSG-12—to the region, marking the largest US naval presence off Venezuela in decades.

The Pentagon claimed the deployment was intended to “detect, monitor, and interdict illicit activities” that threaten American security, but Venezuelan officials dismissed the justification as a pretext for aggression.

Earlier this month, President Donald Trump confirmed that he had authorized the CIA to conduct covert operations in Venezuela and was considering direct land attacks. President Maduro responded by accusing Washington of “fabricating a war” to overthrow his government and seize Venezuela’s vast energy resources.

Maduro, a leader of the Leftist Bolivarian movement, has survived multiple US-backed assassination plots and destabilization attempts. Venezuela’s Foreign Ministry has since lodged a formal complaint at the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States [CELAC], warning that Washington’s military buildup and its local allies’ cooperation constitute a grave violation of international law and a threat to peace in the hemisphere.