Venezuela’s Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez said on Monday that energy agreements with Trinidad and Tobago should be cancelled over what she described as “hostile” actions by the island nation.
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Trinidad is now hosting one of the US warships involved in a controversial campaign to destroy Venezuelan speedboats allegedly carrying drugs to the United States.
On Sunday, the USS Gravely, a destroyer fitted with guided missiles, arrived in Trinidad to conduct joint exercises with Trinidad’s navy.
Venezuelan authorities described Trinidad’s decision to host the ship as a provocation, while Trinidad’s government has said that joint exercises with the US happen regularly.
“The prime minister of Trinidad has decided to join the warmongering agenda of the United States,” Rodriguez said on national television on Monday.
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Rodriguez, who is also Venezuela’s minister of hydrocarbons, said she would ask Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro to withdraw from a 2015 agreement that enables neighbouring countries to carry out joint natural gas exploration projects in the waters between both nations.
Trinidad and Venezuela are separated by a small bay that is just 11 km (7 miles) wide at its narrowest point.