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VENEZUELA has suggested “complicity” by the Trinidad and Tobago Government and also expressed surprise at the tone of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar’s response to its claims that a Trinidadian was among armed mercenaries caught intruding into its territory.

Relations between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela appeared to have further deteriorated with a communique out of Caracas yesterday which followed Persad-Bissessar’s declaration on Thursday that Venezuela must respect this country’s sovereignty and that any unidentified vessels found in local waters would be met with hostility.

In a statement early yesterday, the Venezuelan government described Persad-Bissessar’s response as “irate and unjustified”.