America’s top general heads to T&T as fears of war with Venezuela loom

The US’s top military officer was scheduled to meet with Trinidadian Prime Minister Kamla Persad Bissessar on the island on Tuesday for high-level talks as the US ramps up military pressure against neighboring Venezuela.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman General Dan Caine is visiting the republic for formal talks at the request of Washington, according to government, but the main opposition People’s National Movement (PNM) is already suspicious about the visit, wondering why such a high-level defense/war department official is stepping on the country’s soil now, even as warm drums are beating just across the Gulf of Paria with Venezuela.

“The nation demands full transparency now, because Trinidad and Tobago will not accept secrecy, distraction, or a prime minister in hiding. Citizens are deeply concerned that this sudden high-level U.S. military visit, coming at a time when the prime minister refuses to answer even the most basic questions on national security, raises far more questions than answers,” Opposition Leader Pennelope Beckles said in a social media statement on Tuesday.

The visit is coming as American authorities say that some form of military action will be taken against the alleged rogue nation Venezuela in the coming days, in part to dislodge President Nicolas Maduro. Washington has already offered a $50 million reward for the capture of Maduro, who it alleges is an international narco trafficker who is wanted by US law.

Opposition parties and local political pundits have expressed concerns and anxieties about the administration’s open support and encouragement of US military action in the Southern Caribbean, which won general elections at the end of April. They fear that the republic will be left with very hard to mend broken relations with Venezuela after any military action ends or after democracy returns to the South American nation in whatever form.

The PM’s office says several topics are on the agenda.

“The meeting is being held at the request of the US and will focus on the two nations’ strong bilateral relationship, strengthening regional stability, and the vital importance to both countries of countering the illicit traffic in drugs and transnational criminal organizations. The prime minister welcomes the visit. Further details will be shared with the media after the meeting.”

The PM and other cabinet ministers have already attributed a drop in felony crimes such as murders, narco, and gun smuggling to the presence of the US military in the region and to actual action taken against alleged drug boats headed to Trinidad as reasons to support the current situation.

The general is visiting just weeks after two separate joint military exercises with American forces in Trinidad in the past month. These had included flights of military planes and helicopters over Trinidad, as fears linger as to whether the island will be used as a base for attacks on its neighbor. PM Persad Bissessar has said there has been no such request yet, but she has already offered to intervene if Venezuela ever attacks neighboring Guyana to enforce a decades-old border dispute.