Guyana, Trinidad on board with U.S. action against Venezuela

Two South Caribbean nations bordering Venezuela have thrown their support behind plans by the Trump administration to move against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his regime, with one even offering the U.S. access to its territory as a military launching pad if Venezuela engages in any irresponsible action.

- By BERT WILKINSON Special to the AmNews

The governments of Guyana and Trinidad appeared to time their support for Washington just as the flotilla of U.S. warships and other military equipment was arriving near the South American nation, which the U.S. and other countries have dubbed as a rogue nation because of its history of rigged elections and other political and constitutional infractions.

On Friday, Guyana's government issued a mild statement supporting international moves to rid the region of organized gangs and criminal networks like the Cartel de los Soles of Venezuela, while Trinidadian Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar came out blazing with a late-Saturday statement unequivocally supporting the U.S. against Venezuela. Her announcement appears to have left the federation with Tobago in a state of political shock, especially because Foreign Minister Sean Sobers had just hours earlier vowed that the twin island republic was planning to stay out of the conflict.

Local pundits and opposition parties have complained that the move has left the nation open to reprisals from Venezuela in the future and should not have been made. The two countries are separated by only seven miles of water, while Guyana shares small bordering rivers with Venezuela.