Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has announced he had suspended an energy agreement with Trinidad and Tobago in response to the neighbouring island nation's welcoming of a US warship.
Maduro announced on Monday the "immediate suspension" of the energy agreement in a televised address, accusing Trinidadian Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar of transforming her nation "into an aircraft carrier of the American empire against Venezuela."
Trinidad's previous government had been planning numerous joint gas projects with Venezuela.
Earlier, Venezuela's vice president had said that energy agreements with Trinidad and Tobago should be cancelled over what she described as "hostile" actions by the island nation.
Trinidad is now hosting one of the US warships involved in a controversial campaign to destroy Venezuelan speedboats allegedly carrying drugs to the United States.
On Sunday, the USS Gravely, a destroyer fitted with guided missiles, arrived in Trinidad to conduct joint exercises with Trinidad's navy.
Venezuelan authorities described Trinidad's decision to host the ship as a provocation, while Trinidad's government has said that joint exercises with the US happen regularly.
"The prime minister of Trinidad has decided to join the war-mongering agenda of the United States," Venezuela's Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said on national television Monday.
Rodriguez, who is also Venezuela's minister of hydrocarbons, said she would ask Maduro to withdraw from a 2015 agreement that enables neighbouring countries to carry out joint natural gas exploration projects in the waters between both nations. Trinidad and Venezuela are separated by a small bay that is just 11 kilometres wide at its narrowest point.
Unlike other leaders in Latin America and the Caribbean who have compared strikes on alleged drug vessels to extrajudicial killings, Trinidad Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissesar has supported the campaign.
The prime minister has said that she’d rather see drug traffickers “blown to pieces” than have them kill the citizens of her nation.
Dragon project
Venezuelan officials have criticised the authorisation Trinidad received from the US to negotiate the flagship Dragon project with US-sanctioned Venezuela, and said Trinidad would have to pay for any gas supplies.
The Dragon development, which lies in Venezuelan waters, has faced long-standing delays amid frequent US policy changes since Washington imposed energy sanctions on Venezuela in 2019.
Government officials claim that the deployment of US warships to the region is part of an effort to overthrow Maduro.
Tensions between Venezuela and the United States escalated last week as the Trump administration announced it would be deploying its largest aircraft carrier to the southern Caribbean, complementing a flotilla that already includes eight warships, a submarine, drones and fighter jets.
The Trump administration has launched 10 strikes against alleged drug-carrying vessels since September, when it first deployed ships to the southern Caribbean. At least 43 people have been killed in the controversial attacks.
