MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Venezuela declares Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister “persona non grata”

Trinidad and Tobago has become an agent of aggression against Venezuela,” Rodríguez maintained

The Venezuelan National Assembly (AN) unanimously approved a declaration on Tuesday to deem Trinidad and Tobago Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar “persona non grata,” citing her alleged role in a “criminal conspiracy” with the United States military to attack Venezuela.

The motion was passed during a regular session on Tuesday, with National Assembly (AN) Speaker Jorge Rodríguez announcing the unanimous decision.

“It is unanimously approved and this lady is declared persona non grata, as well as to unanimously support the denunciation made yesterday by constitutional president Nicolás Maduro Moros of the energy agreement between Trinidad and Tobago and the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela!” Rodríguez said following the vote.

The measure also supports President Nicolás Maduro's decision to suspend and denounce all energy agreements with Trinidad and Tobago.

Congresswoman Iris Varela submitted the bill, arguing that the Prime Minister's actions constituted an open threat to Venezuelan sovereignty. Varela specifically denounced alleged joint military exercises involving US forces and Trinidad and Tobago, “a few kilometers from the Venezuelan coast.”

Varela questioned the move, especially following recent reports of Trinidadian fishermen being killed by US military forces in the Caribbean. She argued that the island's authorities were “opening their country's doors to the same criminal foreign troops from the US”

Opposition deputy Luis Brito joined the condemnation, describing Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar as submissive, warmongering, and disloyal for allowing a foreign army to promote a “veiled threat of invasion” against Venezuela.

The official agreement, titled “Operation Containment,” forcefully condemns the Prime Minister's position as an “open incitement to violence in the Caribbean region,” a conduct it calls incompatible with the region's status as a Zone of Peace.

The document approved provided for the Prime Minister's declaration as “persona non grata” for being part of a “systematic plan against the peace of Venezuela,” strongly condemning her stance as a threat to peace and a violation of international law, including principles of the United Nations Charter and the CELAC Proclamation as a zone of peace.

It also endorsed the immediate denunciation and suspension of all energy cooperation agreements with Trinidad and Tobago, followed by a call for the Trinidadian government to publicly disassociate itself from “war provocations” to preserve bilateral relations.

Additionally, it denounced the serious military threat posed by the United States in the Caribbean before national and international bodies.

“It is unacceptable to maintain an agreement that favors Trinidad and Tobago, if Trinidad and Tobago has become an agent of aggression against Venezuela,” Rodríguez maintained.