Raphael John-Lall
As tensions between the US and Venezuela continue to rise, Venezuelan Justice Minister Diosdado Cabello is accusing both T&T and Guayana of allowing themselves to be used by the Americans to launch an attack against Venezuela.
Referring to historical territorial disputes, he also claimed that both T&T and Guyana have been “Venezuelan territories.”
Venezuela claims the oil-rich Essequibo region of Guyana which is roughly two-thirds of Guyana’s territory.
“There are those countries, our neighbours, who want to get into a fight with Venezuela. And I speak specifically right now of Trinidad and Guyana. They lend themselves to the Americans to launch an attack. Take it as you want. Guyana is truly Venezuelan territory. Trinidad has always been Venezuelan territory,” he said.
He made these startling claims on his weekly tv programme, Con El Mazo Dando on Wednesday night.
Observers around the region quickly took notice of Cabello’s threats.
Eduardo Menoni, a journalist and editor at Libertad Media based in El Salvador on his X platform, uploaded a video clip of Cabello’s reference to T&T in which Menoni called it a “threat” against T&T and he also predicted that Cabello’s and Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro’s days are numbered.
Cabello also warned that the American presence in the Caribbean is not only about Venezuela but the rest of the Caribbean and Latin American region.
“Any president who thinks this is only about Venezuela is a fool,” he said while citing the example of former Bolivian president Luis Arce, an ally of Venezuela who was arrested on Wednesday on corruption charges.
In October, T&T’s Government in a joint statement with the US congratulated Bolivia’s new pro-American Government.
Cabello also condemned the US Government for seizing Venezuela’s oil tanker earlier on Wednesday evening saying the Americans want Venezuela’s oil and gold without paying for it.
