As the discussions continue about how the proposed refresh of the relationship between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela will work, there is one critical element that needs to be addressed.
The immediate focus has been on a proposed purchase of US$50 million in food from T&T and faster, more focused action on the Loran-Manatee petroleum fields, but the conversations between T&T and Venezuela must not overlook the potential for a sharp increase in arms leaking across the narrow channel of water between our countries in Icacos and Cedros.
Anthony Maingot, a professor specialising in Caribbean and South American security at Florida International University claims that tens of thousands of Chinese-made AK-47 assault rifles were distributed to partisans of the Chav�z regime and that much of that arms cache has now been placed on the market by corrupt elements of the Guardia Nacional.
Paul-Daniel Nahous, president of the Confederation of Hunters' Associations for Conservation explained that shotguns and cartridges have been making their way into the country for years, supplementing the official allocation of 100 shotgun cartridges to hunters for the year.
Among the arms that may become available from Venezuela are 100,000 Russian-made AK-103 rifles and 5,000 Dragunov sniper rifles purchased by Hugo Chavez in 2006.
It is unknown how many weapons may have been manufactured in the country using equipment and a license for manufacture that the late Mr Chavez also acquired.
President Nicholas Maduro has sound incentives to institute in-country arms control, but it's going to be difficult, if not impossible put the firearms genie back into any kind of meaningful containment in Venezuela.
There are simply too many weapons, dispersed too widely, for that many guns back to be placed under lock and key.
In acknowledging the existing realities, it's clear that the only option is a overdue screening action on our most vulnerable south-western borders that's specifically designed to discourage any increase in the transfer of deadly weapons into T&T at those access points.
Coastal interdiction has been a troublingly incomplete national conversation for a decade now.
Three Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPVs) were contracted for with British shipbuilder BAE Systems and put into production. The overdue vessels went into arbitration when problems arose with the OPVs under the incoming People's Partnership Government, eventually resulting in the announcement in 2012 of a settlement of $1.4 billion for T&T.
In October 2015, T&T took delivery of the TTS Nelson II, built by the China Ship Building Company.
Former Minister of National Security John Sandy called for an upgrade to the country's coastal radar surveillance systems in October 2010, concerned about issues of maintenance and effectiveness.
The upgrade of the 360 degree coastal radar system wouldn't begin to happen until three years later as part of the crime plan of the National Security Minister of the day, Jack Warner.
At that time, radar equipment at San Fernando Hill, Toco, Moruga and Charlotteville was not functioning. Surveillance equipment in Cedros had been removed entirely.
While the Government might invite Venezuela's President to pay attention to his borders, T&T has a responsibility to focus its attention on Icacos and Cedros and their environs, both less than two dozen miles away from Venezuela at their closest points and already identified as key transshipment points for illegal weapons.
It's a commonsense leap of logic to assume that there will be a rise in the gun trade along those borders and it must be stopped early and effectively.