PM says Trinidad not part of US military operation against Venezuela
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PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar on Saturday said that Trinidad and Tobago did not participate in the United States military action against Venezuela, following Washington’s claim that President Nicolás Maduro had been captured and taken out of the country.
“Earlier this morning, Saturday, January 3, 2026, the United States commenced military operations within the territory of Venezuela. Trinidad and Tobago is not a participant in any of these ongoing military operations,” Persad-Bissessar said in a statement posted on X.
“Trinidad and Tobago continues to maintain peaceful relations with the people of Venezuela,” she added.
Persad-Bissessar has been openly supportive of the United States’ plan to address what it has termed the illegal drugs trade, even as the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) has been calling for the region to be maintained as a “Zone of Peace.”
She has previously called for drug dealers to be killed “violently,” even as political observers have said that Washington was interested in regime change in Venezuela.
Maduro on Saturday declared a state of emergency over what his government described as an “extremely serious military aggression” by the United States on the capital, Caracas.
Multiple explosions, accompanied by sounds resembling aircraft flyovers, were heard around the city.
“Venezuela rejects, repudiates, and denounces before the international community the extremely serious military aggression perpetrated by the current government of the United States of America against Venezuelan territory and people,” the government said.
However, US President Donald Trump said in a statement that Maduro and his wife had been captured in the “large-scale” strike against the country and had been flown out of Venezuela.
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