By Staff Writer
PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Nov 17, CMC – Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar Monday dismissed concerns raised by her predecessor, Dr. Keith Rowley, regarding the security of Trinidad and Tobago as the United States increases its military presence in the Caribbean region.
“Today’s presser by Rowley was nothing to be concerned about. As a citizen, he has a democratic right to express his opinions,” Persad-Bissessar said in a post on her X account, adding that” the US has NEVER requested use of our territory to launch any attacks against the people of Venezuela”.
Rowley told a news conference that he had not signed an agreement with the United States that would allow Washington to use Trinidad and Tobago as a staging ground to attack neighbouring countries such as Venezuela, while reiterating that the Caribbean region should always remain a zone of peace.
“As the former prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago and chairman of the National Security Council and the person who sat and talked with Americans throughout my term, that there is absolutely nothing in the Status of Foreces Agreement (SOFA) to permit any commitment fom Trinidad and Tobago to breach the UN Charter, to intervene militarily in any of our neighbours or anywhere in the world,” Rowley told reporters.
“Absolutely not so at all. Anybody from the government saying that it is a lie. There is nothing in any document that I am aware of, which prevents the sovereign government of Trinidad and Tobago from saying yes or no to any request coming from any country if we believe that it jeopardises our sovereignty or puts our vulnerability to the test. So let’s get that very clear”.
SOFA governs the temporary presence and activities of US military personnel in Trinidad and Tobago. The agreement was first signed in 2007 and has been updated multiple times, most recently in December 2024. The newest version removed a specific expiration date, making it indefinite unless renegotiated, and is designed to facilitate military-to-military engagement and cooperation, such as joint training exercises and security.
Rowley said that if in the future there is a confrontation between the United States and Venezuela, and Trinidad and Tobago is seen to be a participant, “big or small, it is entirely as a result of decisions taken and actions by the government of Trinidad and Tobago…under the leadership of Kamla Persad-Bissessar”.
But in her 10-point rebuttal of Rowley’s statements made during the news conference, Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar said it was Rowley, “while entranced with former (US) ambassador (Candace A.) Bond signed an updated SOFA last year, which requires T&T to cooperate with the US military in their training exercises in the region.
“Trinidad and Tobago territory will NOT be used to launch any attacks against the people of Venezuela. Trinidad and Tobago is a sovereign state and does not blindly follow the US or any bloc such as CARICOM.
“Our foreign policy is Trinidad and Tobago first. As Lord Palmerston said, “We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow,” she wrote.
Political observers view the US presence in the Caribbean as part of Washington’s efforts to effect regime change in Caracas under the guise of dealing with the illegal drugs trade. The US has sent its biggest carrier, the Gerald Forde, into the Caribbean Sea as part of the campaign. The US has sent its biggest carrier, the Gerald Forde, into the Caribbean Sea as part of the campaign
Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar, who has publicly endorsed the US military action in the region, said over the last weekend that their presence in the region has already contributed to a “significant reduction in the trafficking of guns, drugs, and humans” into Trinidad and Tobago, even as the Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro warned Port of Spain’s joint military drills with the United States could “threaten peace” in the Caribbean.
Members of the US 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) on Sunday began a week-long joint training exercise with the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF), with Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar saying that “as a small nation facing transnational criminal networks, Trinidad and Tobago benefits immensely from this partnership with the world’s leading superpower”.
“May these exercises further fortify our security and usher in a safer, stronger Trinidad and Tobago. We promised to make TT safe, and we intend to deliver,” she added.
But Maduro has warned that the military exercises in Trinidad and Tobago are designed “to seriously threaten the peace of the Caribbean.”
“They say they’re going to do it from Monday to Thursday… Well, the people of Trinidad and Tobago will see if they continue to tolerate the use of their waters and land,” Maduro declared, repeating his longstanding allegation that the US aims to seize Venezuela’s natural resources.
Rowley told the news conference that while he was in office between 2015-2025, Trinidad and Tobago had followed the policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of countries, reiterating the Caribbean’s position of being friends of all, satellites of none.
He said in recent months, the United States under the Trump administration had developed an “aggressive posture” towards Venezuela and the Persad-Bissessar government, rather than being more careful and being cognisant of how we managed ourselves before, look at our vulnerabilities, we have a badjohn prime minister…and America is going to break international law..
‘Strangely enough, European countries are in fact taking the same position onn the legality of what’s happening in the Caribbean,” he said, noting that “we have no issue with the United States as a nation, we want to preserve our relationship with the United States (but) we do not have to accept every policy that the United States execute, especially in international geopolitics. “We have to put our interest first,” he said.
Rowley said that the Persad-Bissessar government had signaled to Washington that it is prepared to allow Trinidad and Tobago to be used as a staging point for attacks on Venezuela. “If the United States military is engaged with Venezuela, it doesn’t matter what for; it was cloaked in some comment about Guyana.
“There was never an issue of Venezuela invading Guyana,” Rowley said, adding that the statement by Port of Spain “dumped all the protection that we had of a nation aiming to be neutral, where there is confrontation on the horizon, and taking a position with one of the potential combatants.
“From where I sit and from where I came, I could not believe that Trinidad and Tobago after decades of advocating, supporting nd receiving the benefit of friends of all, satellite of none and wanting the charter of the United Nations to prevail in all circumstances to protect us, we decide that somehow we better off and benefits to be had by taking sides”.
But Persad-Bissessar, who is on record as saying that the United States should kill the drug dealers “violently,” said in her message Monday that “Trinidad and Tobago has suffered tremendously under the weight of drug and gun trafficking.
“My Government will not shy away from supporting international partners who are committed to confronting this plague head-on,” she said, adding, “Trinidad and Tobago will NOT participate in any act that will bring harm to the Venezuelan people.
“We continue to have peaceful relations with the people of Venezuela,” she said, adding, “the Trinidad and Tobago Government supports the selection of leaders through free and fair democratic elections”.
In his news conference, Rowley warned that Venezuela may regard targets in Trinidad and Tobago “as legitimate targets” if attacked, including oil platforms that are operational close to the Venezuela-Trinidad and Tobago borders.
“Who woke up this woman and go tell the world that if America, having declared drug dealers as narco terrorists …and once they use the word terrorists, they are now authorised to use the military against it, and that was the plan, because the plan is regime change,” he added.
But Persad-Bissessar said that Trinidad and Tobago citizens and infrastructure “are NOT at risk as we are NOT participants in any aggression against the people of Venezuela”.
CMC/pr/ir/2025.