As the US con­tin­ues its mil­i­tary buildup in the Caribbean, re­gion­al lead­ers and ex­perts are warn­ing that this can have a neg­a­tive im­pact on T&T and the rest of the re­gion’s economies.

Venezuela con­tin­ues to ramp up rhetoric against T&T as two weeks ago, its De­fence Min­is­ter Vladimir Padri­no López sent an­oth­er strong mes­sage to T&T that mil­i­tary ex­er­cis­es with the US is a po­ten­tial “ag­gres­sion” against Venezuela.

Two weeks ago, for­mer prime min­is­ter Dr Kei­th Row­ley warned that T&T could be­come a soft tar­get should the Unit­ed States launch mil­i­tary ac­tion against Venezuela, ar­gu­ing that the coun­try’s off­shore gas plat­forms could be among the first as­sets placed at risk.