Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les has de­fend­ed her re­cent meet­ing with Venezuela’s Am­bas­sador to T&T, Ál­varo En­rique Sánchez Cordero, say­ing the en­gage­ment was con­duct­ed trans­par­ent­ly and with the full knowl­edge of the Min­istry of For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs.

The meet­ing, which took place short­ly af­ter Venezuela sus­pend­ed gas deals with T&T, drew sharp crit­i­cism from the Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress (UNC). The par­ty’s PRO, Kirk Meighoo, de­scribed it as “un­pa­tri­ot­ic and sedi­tious.”

The talks oc­curred just hours af­ter Venezuela de­clared Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar per­sona non gra­ta amid es­ca­lat­ing ten­sions be­tween Cara­cas and both the Unit­ed States and T&T.