PRIME Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar said Caricom was not a reliable partner but had chosen Venezuela over Caricom member state Trinidad and Tobago, in a statement made on the Crime Watch television show to host Ian Alleyne on October 27.

She spoke just hours after Venezuelan vice president Delcy Rodriguez had said her country would not collaborate on any energy projects with TT, which Rodriguez had earlier accused of aggression towards her country by way of the visit to the Port of Spain dock of US destroyer the USS Gravely, part of a US anti-narcotics fleet now gathering in the Southern Caribbean, which some commentators allege may be intent on regime change in Caracas.

Persad-Bissessar retorted that TT had no need of Venezuelan gas, saying the country had other projects in both the energy and non-energy sectors.