Venezuela to suspend energy deals with Trinidad over US provocation
Iran Press TV
Monday, 27 October 2025 11:48 PM
Venezuela's Vice President and Oil Minister Delcy Rodríguez says she will demand President Nicolas Maduro suspend all energy agreements with Trinidad and Tobago, including gas projects, over the US provocation.
Rodriguez made the announcement on Monday after Venezuela blasted Trinidad for conducting joint military drills with the United States, amid rising tensions between Caracas and Washington.
"The prime minister of Trinidad has decided to join the war-mongering agenda of the United States," Rodríguez said on national television.
The Venezuelan vice president said the decision was made over the "hostile attitude" taken toward Venezuela by Trinidad and Tobago's Prime Minister, Kamla Persad-Bissessar.
Last week, Rodriguez said Trinidad should pay for any natural gas that Venezuela supplies.
Her remarks came after Venezuelan officials criticized Trinidad for seeking US authorization to negotiate a joint offshore gas project near the maritime border with Venezuela.
Caracas has also accused Trinidad of making military provocation aimed at inciting a war in South America, saying that Trinidad is acting as a "military colony" for the US.
On Sunday, the USS Gravely, a destroyer fitted with guided missiles, arrived in Trinidad to conduct joint exercises with Trinidad's navy.
Rodriguez lashed out at the neighboring Caribbean government for conducting "a military provocation" with the CIA.
"Venezuela denounces the military provocation of Trinidad and Tobago, in coordination with the CIA, aimed at provoking a war in the Caribbean," she said.
Rodriguez criticized Trinidad and Tobago for acting as a vassal nation in Latin America for the United States government to wage war against the South.
The Caribbean nation of Trinidad and Tobago lies just off the coast of Venezuela, about 11 kilometers away at its closest point.
The American warship USS Gravely, a guided missile destroyer that has US marines and helicopters on board, docked in the Port of Spain, capital of Trinidad and Tobago, located on the western coast of the island of Trinidad, on Sunday.
The US warship is scheduled to stay for four days, during which it will take part in joint training with local military forces.
On Friday, the Trump administration ordered the deployment of the USS Ford and its strike group to the Caribbean. It carries fighter jets along with electronic warfare jets and surveillance aircraft.
Pentagon said it was sending CSG-12 to the Southern Command in the Caribbean, claiming it only sought to enhance US capabilities to "detect, monitor, and interdict illicit activities that threaten the security and prosperity of the United States."
This is the biggest military buildup of US forces in the waters off Venezuela in the past decades.
Earlier this month, Trump confirmed reports that he had also ordered the CIA to carry out covert operations in the Latin American country and was considering carrying out land attacks there.
Venezuela's President Nicolás Maduro says the Trump administration is "fabricating" a war against the Latin-American nation to topple its government and take control of its vast energy reserves.
Maduro, who is a proponent of the Leftist Revolutionary Bolivarian Movement, has survived numerous US-backed assassination attempts and other efforts by Washington and its local lackeys to bring him down.
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