St Vincent PM urges calm as tensions between Trinidad and Venezuela escalates

Trinidad and Tobago: Prime Minister of St. Vincent and the Grenadines have called for peace and calm between the countries of Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela amid the ongoing political tensions between the two countries. In a recent interview Dr Ralph Gonsalves asked the two neighboring countries to deal and interact with one another peacefully and according to the international laws that guide the two countries.

He further urged the two nations to resolve their differences by practicing restraint and dealing with the situation more maturely by not using any coarse language that may trigger the situation to escalate.

The tension between the two countries allegedly escalated when the Venezuelan Justice Minister Diosdado Cabello made a report on his chat show ‘Con El Mazo Dando’ that they had captured a Trinidad and Tobago citizen by the name of Guis Kendell Jerome who was on route to enter Venezuela with a terrorist group that had a mission to disable the government of Venezuela.

To this statement, the Senior chief of police officer of Trinidad and Tobago denied the allegations and said that there is no proof that the citizen is a terrorist and according to the country's records Guis Kendell Jerome has no criminal record ever recorded and the case was purely made on assumptions.

The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Kamla Persad-Bissessar addressed the issue at Thursday's post-Cabinet meeting and announced that Trinidad and Tobago is off-limits to Venezuela.

Saying that it needs to be clear to Venezuela that they cannot come into T&T territory and do whatever that they want, they can do that only on their territory. She further added that the T&T Coast Guard (TTCG) has been kept on high alert to use lethal force on any vessel from Venezuela seeking to access the local waters illegally.

On Friday the President of Venezuela, Nicholas Maduro also requested Persad Bissessar to restrain the deadly force and warnings she used in her recent address. Saying they only undermine the key areas of the relationship between the two countries.