Venezuela has suspended its energy cooperation agreements with Trinidad and Tobago, accusing the neighboring island nation of taking “hostile” actions by hosting a United States warship.
President Nicolas Maduro announced the decision Monday night during his weekly television address, describing Trinidad as the “aircraft carrier of the U.S. empire” and claiming he had no alternative but to terminate decade-old agreements between the two countries.
The move followed remarks earlier in the day by Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, who also serves as hydrocarbons minister, calling for the agreements to be scrapped.
On Sunday, the USS Gravely, a guided-missile destroyer, arrived in Trinidad to conduct joint security drills with the country’s navy. Venezuelan officials branded the visit a provocation, while Trinidadian authorities insisted such exercises with the United States occur regularly.
“The prime minister of Trinidad has decided to join the war mongering agenda of the United States,” Rodríguez said during a televised statement.
In messages to The Associated Press, Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said she was unfazed by Venezuela’s threat to cancel cooperation deals, noting that the joint training is solely for “internal security” purposes.
“Our future does not depend on Venezuela and never has,” she said. “We have our plans and projects to grow our economy both within the energy and non-energy sectors.”
Rodríguez said she formally requested the withdrawal from a 2015 agreement enabling joint natural gas exploration in shared offshore waters. The two countries are separated by a narrow bay only 11 kilometers wide at its closest point.
Persad-Bissessar has openly backed the U.S.-led mission targeting suspected drug-trafficking boats, which some Latin American leaders have likened to extrajudicial killings. She has previously stated she would rather see traffickers “blown to pieces” than allow criminal networks to claim more lives in Trinidad.
“I am tired of seeing our citizens murdered and terrorized because of gang violence driven by illegal drugs and arms trafficking,” she told AP.
Trinidad, home to roughly 1.4 million people, is known as a transit hub where smugglers often stockpile narcotics before shipment to Europe and North America.
Venezuela has repeatedly cast the deployment of American forces to the Caribbean as an attempt to unseat Maduro, who remains under heavy international criticism over alleged election irregularities.
Tensions escalated last week after Washington announced the deployment of its largest aircraft carrier to the southern Caribbean, joining a military fleet that already includes eight ships, a submarine, drones and fighter jets.
Since its first deployment in September, the U.S. operation has launched 10 strikes on boats suspected of transporting drugs. At least 43 people have been killed in the missions, which have drawn growing controversy in the region.
