Min­is­ter of De­fence Wayne Sturge says there is noth­ing to wor­ry about re­gard­ing Trinidad and To­ba­go’s re­la­tion­ship with Venezuela, hours af­ter the Unit­ed States car­ried out an op­er­a­tion in the South Amer­i­can coun­try and cap­tured Pres­i­dent Nicolás Maduro, his wife, and son.

Sturge said con­cerns were mis­placed, par­tic­u­lar­ly as Venezue­lan Vice Pres­i­dent Del­cy Ro­dríguez has agreed to co­op­er­ate.

“I do not be­lieve cit­i­zens are wor­ried as there is noth­ing to wor­ry about, par­tic­u­lar­ly as Del­cy Ro­driguez has agreed to co­op­er­ate ... I be­lieve that those with an agen­da are en­gag­ing in fear-mon­ger­ing, as things didn’t pan out as they had hoped. We are not at war with Venezuela,” he said in a What­sApp ex­change with Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day.