Trinidad Tells Venezuela- ‘We Don’t Need Your Gas’

(Newsday) Amid the Venezuelan government’s proposal on October 27 to suspend all gas agreements with Trinidad and Tobago, Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar has defiantly declared that TT does not need Venezuelan gas, and never did.

“Our future does not depend on Venezuela and never has,” she told Newsday via WhatsApp. “We have our plans and projects to grow our economy both within the energy and non-energy sectors.”

Persad-Bissessar said unlike the previous administration, the government has not placed all its eggs in one basket.

“The last PNM government mistakenly placed all their hopes in the Dragon project – we have not done so.

“Therefore, we are not susceptible to any blackmail from the Venezuelans for political support. We continue to maintain peaceful relations with the Venezuelan people.”

Newsday asked whether tensions between TT and Venezuela can be de-escalated through dialogue and if it were possible would she take the lead in those conversations.

She responded: “There are no tensions.We continue to maintain peaceful relations with the Venezuelan people.”

Persad Bissessar’s statements come after Venezuelan vice president Delcy Rodriguez made the announcement of cutting energy ties with TT.

In a speech televised on Telesur, Rodriguez said: “Following the aggressive actions of TT being complicit with the United States military actions in the Caribbean, the board of oil industry of Venezuela has proposed to the head of state, Nicolas Maduro, to immediately denounce and suspend all gas co-operation agreements that exist between the two countries, Venezuela and TT.”

In September, Persad-Bissessar and a TT delegation visited Washington for a meeting with Secretary of State Marco Rubio to discuss energy security. She told the media upon her return to Trinidad that she was always confident TT would be granted an Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) licence for the Dragon gas deal.

She said she was prepared to lead negotiations in Venezuela if required.

Attorney General John Jeremie revealed earlier this month that TT was officially granted the licence on October 8.