Three dif­fer­ent ex­pla­na­tions from Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar, air­port work­ers, and Chief Sec­re­tary Far­ley Au­gus­tine have raised ques­tions about why a Unit­ed States Air Force C-17A Globe­mas­ter III land­ed in To­ba­go ear­ly yes­ter­day morn­ing.

The heavy-lift mil­i­tary air­craft, op­er­at­ing as RCH661, de­part­ed the ANR Robin­son In­ter­na­tion­al Air­port at 5.53 am and climbed to 32,000 feet be­fore head­ing north.

Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar told re­porters be­fore head­ing in­to Par­lia­ment that the air­craft was as­sist­ing with ac­tiv­i­ty tak­ing place at the air­port. “They are help­ing us with some­thing to do at the air­port,” she said. She al­so con­firmed that Unit­ed States Marines were train­ing lo­cal­ly and stressed that the vis­it was not tied to any re­gion­al es­ca­la­tion. “It’s not a mil­i­tary force as such; they are not here on the ground. We are not about to launch any cam­paign against Venezuela.”