OPPOSITION Leader Pennelope Beckles said her courtesy call with Venezuela ambassador Alvaro Sanchez Cordero to TT came via a letter to her from the Ministry of Foreign and Caricom Affairs, as she denied any notion that her meeting had been unpatriotic. She said she was seeking to clear the air, as she held a briefing at her Port of Spain office on November 4.

Beckles referred to a letter from the ministry dated October 28 which preceded her courtesy call with Cordero on October 30.

The letter said the Venezuelan embassy had requested the ministry's assistance to meet her, as she said she has had similar ministry letters requesting her to have courtesy calls with envoys from Ireland, India, Palestine, Cuba and most recently, Japan.