Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar has rep­ri­mand­ed Min­is­ter in the Min­istry of Hous­ing Phillip Alexan­der over con­tro­ver­sial re­marks about Venezuela, say­ing he is “cer­tain­ly out of line”.

Alexan­der had sug­gest­ed that In­dia might use nu­clear weapons against Venezuela in de­fence of Trinidad and To­ba­go’s East In­di­an pop­u­la­tion, a com­ment that drew con­dem­na­tion from Venezue­lan Vice Pres­i­dent Del­cy Ro­dríguez, who brand­ed him a pawn of the Unit­ed States.

Per­sad-Bisses­sar made it clear yes­ter­day, while speak­ing with re­porters at the Diplo­mat­ic Cen­tre, that her Gov­ern­ment does not share Alexan­der’s views.

“I do not share his views. I have since told him he needs to stay in his zone. Let’s hope he com­plies, but the Cab­i­net, my gov­ern­ment, we do not share the views ex­pressed by that hon­or­able min­is­ter,” she said.