Trinidad and Tobago to open its airports to the US military amid rising tensions with Venezuela

(Patria) - The government of Trinidad and Tobago announced on Monday that it will allow the US military access to its airports in the coming weeks, amid rising tensions between the United States and Venezuela, Reuters reported.

The announcement comes after the US military recently installed a radar system at the airport in Tobago. The government of this Caribbean country stated that the radar is being used to combat local crime and that the nation will not be used as a springboard for an attack on any other country.

The United States would use the airports for activities that would be "logistical in nature, facilitating resupply and routine personnel rotations," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago said. It did not provide further details.
The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago has previously praised the ongoing US attacks on alleged drug-laden ships in the Caribbean.

Only eleven kilometers separate Venezuela from this Caribbean nation, which consists of two islands, at their closest point. The small Caribbean nation has two main airports: Piarco International Airport in Trinidad and ANR Robinson International Airport in Tobago.

Hours later, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez said that Caracas is canceling all contracts, agreements, or negotiations on natural gas supply to Trinidad and Tobago.

She claimed that the government of Trinidad and Tobago participated in the recent US seizure of an oil tanker off the country's coast, calling it an "act of piracy." She accused the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Kamla Persad-Bissessar, of having a "hostile agenda" against Venezuela, noting that the US military had installed radar at the airport in Tobago.

"This official has turned the territory of Trinidad and Tobago into a US aircraft carrier to attack Venezuela, in an unambiguous act of vassalage," Rodríguez said.

Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela had previously reached an agreement to develop a gas field in Venezuelan waters, near the maritime border separating the two countries.

In December 2023, Venezuela granted a license to oil giant Shell and Trinidad and Tobago to produce gas from the field. In October, the US government authorized Trinidad and Tobago to negotiate a gas agreement without facing US sanctions against Venezuela.

Amery Browne, an opposition senator and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Trinidad and Tobago, accused his country's government on Monday of misleading in its announcement.

Browne said that Trinidad and Tobago had become an "accomplice in extrajudicial killings, cross-border tensions, and warmongering."

"There is nothing routine about this. It has nothing to do with the usual cooperation and friendly relations we have enjoyed for decades with the US and all our neighbors," he said.

He said that a "general permit" with the US leads the country "one step further on the path of a satellite state" and that it accepts the philosophy of "'might makes right.'"

US attacks began in September and have killed more than eighty people as Washington stations a fleet of warships near Venezuela, including the largest US aircraft carrier.

In October, a US warship docked in Trinidad and Tobago's capital, Port-of-Spain, as the administration of US President Donald Trump intensifies military pressure on Venezuela and President Nicolás Maduro.

US lawmakers have questioned the legality of attacks on vessels in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific, and recently announced that Congress would review them.