Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar sent a message to Venezue­lan President Nicolas Maduro yesterday: stay out of Trinidad and Tobago territory as any unidentified vessel entering T&T’s waters will be met with deadly force.

She also warned T&T citizens—drug and human smugglers who are “masquerading as fishermen”—that if they are caught by Venezuelans, they are on their own.

Speaking at yesterday’s post-­Cabinet news conference at the Red House, Port of Spain, Persad-Bissessar recalled statements by Maduro and Venezuelan Justice Minister Diosdado Cabello as she declared that her Government will take any threats seriously, and it stood in so­lidarity with the United States.