Former National Security Minister of Trinidad and Tobago Gary Griffith has accused the Nicolas Maduro regime of posing a real threat to the Caribbean’s peace and security. Griffith, on Tuesday, defended Trinidad and Guyana against new threats from Caracas, which has vowed military retaliation if Venezuela is attacked by United States forces stationed in the southern Caribbean from these territories.
Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López said this week that Guyana and Trinidad will receive a response should they support the Americans, who he accused of sharply intensifying aerial surveillance and harbouring aggressive intentions against Venezuela.
Griffith has nonetheless accused Venezuela of now playing victim after years of aggression toward the two Caribbean states.
“This is a clear situation for years of being the aggressor and now trying to play victim,” Griffith charged. “It is Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana under threat, not Venezuela. The warning issued recently by Venezuela’s defence minister against Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana is as dangerous as it is ironic. For years it has not been Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana threatening Venezuela, it has been the other way around where the Maduro regime’s actions have destablised our region and threatened both Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana in recent times.”
Griffith pointed to repeated acts of aggression by the Maduro government against Guyana over their false claim to the Essequibo region. He cited several attacks on Guyanese soldiers from the Venezuelan side and the incursion of a Venezuelan military vessel into Guyanese waters, calling it a clear violation of international law and a source of constant instability.
Griffith also highlighted the strain Venezuelan migration has placed on Trinidad’s resources, as well as new security concerns created from the cross-border drug trade, human trafficking, and the illegal entry of firearms into the country.
The former security minister denounced Venezuela’s claims to “go anywhere” to apprehend alleged terrorists seeking to destabilise the country, calling it cheap and deliberate rhetoric designed to justify entering a country’s territory under the false cover of self defence.
“Let us be clear,” Griffith stated, noting that “the real danger to peace in our region is not Trinidad and Tobago or Guyana, it’s based on the Maduro government who drew first blood and continues to threaten Trinidad and Tobago and Guyana.”
Griffith insisted that the Caribbean must remain a zone of peace, with engagements through CARICOM and international partners to ensure stability and peace within the region.
