VENEZUELAN president Nicolas Maduro has accused Trinidad and Tobago of working with the US and the CIA to provoke a military confrontation in the Caribbean, claiming recent joint exercises involving a US Navy destroyer were part of a wider destabilisation plan against Venezuela.

He also approved a proposal to suspend all gas and energy-related agreements with Trinidad and Tobago, confirmed during an interview on Venezuelan state television. The decision, he said, followed tensions with Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, her previous comments, and Trinidad and Tobago’s acceptance of US forces in the region.

Speaking on his Con Maduro programme on teleSUR on the night of October 28. Maduro alleged military drills with the US ship near were designed to generate a conflict in the Caribbean under the sponsorship of the US Southern Command.