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While many Trinida­di­ans ap­pear un­both­ered by the ris­ing ten­sion be­tween the Unit­ed States and Venezuela, some in South Trinidad are qui­et­ly prepar­ing for the worst, stock­ing up on gro­ceries and es­sen­tial sup­plies in the event war breaks out and T&T is caught in the cross­fire.

At JTA Su­per­mar­ket in C3 Cen­tre, Ste Madeleine, staff re­port­ed a week­end spike in sales of toi­let pa­per, bot­tled wa­ter, and canned goods. Lane at­ten­dants hur­ried to re­stock peas, tu­na, Vi­en­na sausages, and rice, as shelves ran low on corned beef, salmon, mack­er­el, and flour. The end-of-month rush was ex­pect­ed lat­er in the week, but shop­ping ac­tiv­i­ty be­gan ear­li­er than usu­al.

The sud­den buy­ing spree co­in­cid­ed with the ar­rival of the USS Grave­ly, a guid­ed-mis­sile de­stroy­er that docked in Port-of-Spain on Sun­day. The vis­it forms part of joint mil­i­tary ex­er­cis­es be­tween the US Marines and the De­fence Force, which con­tin­ue un­til Oc­to­ber 30.