Venezuela Bars Trinidad, Tobago’s Prime Minister Amid Caribbean Tensions

Venezuela has officially declared Trinidad and Tobago’s Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar persona non grata, escalating a regional feud that’s quickly become entangled with US military operations in the Caribbean.

The vote, held Tuesday in Venezuela’s National Assembly, bars Persad-Bissessar from entering the country and marks a sharp diplomatic rift between two neighbours separated by barely 11 kilometres of sea. The decision follows weeks of heated exchanges over the expanding presence of US warships near Venezuelan waters — and the ongoing bombing of boats Washington claims are linked to drug trafficking.

When asked about the ban the day before it was announced, Persad-Bissessar brushed it off with characteristic bluntness: “Why would they think I would want to go to Venezuela?”

The comment captured the tone of a dispute that’s been growing since early September, when the US began what it calls a “counter-narcotics operation” in the Caribbean. Persad-Bissessar has been one of the few Caribbean leaders to publicly back the American campaign, even as most regional governments have condemned it as a reckless use of force.

“I, along with most of the country, am happy that the US naval deployment is having success in their mission,” she said shortly after the first missile strike was announced. “I have no sympathy for traffickers; the US military should kill them all, violently.”

That remark landed like a grenade in Caracas. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto denounced the US actions at the United Nations as “an illegal and completely immoral military threat hanging over our heads.” Maduro’s government has since suspended a gas accord with Trinidad and Tobago and accused its neighbour of “abetting foreign aggression.”

Legal experts have joined the chorus of concern, comparing the US-led bombings to extrajudicial executions and warning that they likely violate international law. At least 13 strikes have taken place so far, destroying 14 small vessels and reportedly killing 57 people. None of the victims have been publicly identified, and no evidence has been released proving any link to drug trafficking.