RENUKA SINGH
Foreign Affairs Minister Dr Amery Browne today confirmed that a "small number of persons" staged a protest near the T&T Embassy in Caracas on Tuesday.
The protest action comes amid reports that Venezuelan nationals were angered by the recent drownings of migrants trying to make their way to T&T via pirougue.
"There are many competing political agendas in that country at this time, and the social media content that mobilizes some people has been completely skewed and designed to inflame and distort rather than to accurately inform," Browne said in response to questions this morning.
"We have implemented measures to ensure that our staff remain safe and active in providing ongoing service to both our nationals and the citizens of Venezuela who seek and require their services," he said.
The protest came on the same day that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley took to social media to blast the Organisation of American States (OAS), the Opposition and local and Venezuelan "imps and agents" who support "traffickers and their cargo" entering the country illegally.
In that post, Rowley denied that the local Coast Guard met with the group of migrants and turned them away.
The post garnered several harsh responses and Rowley apologised for mixing remorse over the killing of teenager Ashanti Riley and the drownings of Venezuelan nationals but stood by the sentiment behind it.
After deleting that post from the official Office of the Prime Minister social media page, the PM then posted two separate posts to his private page.