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De­spite a new sal­vo of crit­i­cism from the Venezuela gov­ern­ment yes­ter­day, For­eign Af­fairs Min­is­ter Sean Sobers is re­as­sur­ing the pub­lic that re­la­tions be­tween T&T and its neigh­bour re­main strong and sta­ble.

The as­sur­ance fol­lows Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar’s warn­ing that dead­ly force could be used against uniden­ti­fied ves­sels en­ter­ing Trinida­di­an wa­ters from Venezuela. Her state­ment came in the wake of al­le­ga­tions by Venezue­lan Pres­i­dent Nicolás Maduro that a Colom­bian para­mil­i­tary group, along­side one Trinida­di­an, at­tempt­ed to en­ter his coun­try via T&T re­cent­ly. The group was said to have had plans to desta­bilise the Venezue­lan gov­ern­ment.

Yes­ter­day, Sobers met with Venezuela’s Am­bas­sador to T&T, Ál­varo Sánchez Cordero, dur­ing a pre-sched­uled cour­tesy call at the Min­istry of For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs in Port-of-Spain.