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In­ter­na­tion­al re­la­tions ex­pert Dr An­tho­ny Gon­za­les has urged the Gov­ern­ment to tread care­ful­ly as ten­sions rise be­tween the Unit­ed States and Venezuela, warn­ing that Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar’s stance could ex­pose the coun­try to re­tal­i­a­tion.

Speak­ing with Guardian Me­dia yes­ter­day, Gon­za­les point­ed to re­marks by Venezuela’s De­fence Min­is­ter, Vladimir Padri­no López, who warned that any coun­try of­fer­ing the US a base for mil­i­tary op­er­a­tions would be seen as com­plic­it in ag­gres­sion. Ac­cord­ing to him, that threat can­not be tak­en light­ly.

“If you’re threat­en­ing to of­fer the Amer­i­cans a base in Trinidad, it means that you’re join­ing in with the Unit­ed States to at­tack Venezuela. The Venezue­lans are go­ing to re­tal­i­ate, and they’re go­ing to at­tack us. And that is quite clear to me,” he said.