By Sue-Ann Wayow
MADNESS.
That is how former prime minister Dr Keith Rowley describes statements made by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar towards the Venezuelan government on Thursday.
In a Facebook post labelled “Shoot first, find out after,” Dr Rowley asked, “Our gas fields are 60 miles out at sea. Does the Prime Minister really believe that we can adequately defend those operations, with force, against a highly militarised neighbor like Venezuela?”
He made the statement just after Persad-Bissessar at her post-Cabinet media briefing warned Venezuela that their threats to search in Trinidad for potential paramilitary personnel would not be taken lightly.
Dr Rowley said, “To throw down a “deadly force” gauntlet to Venezuela can only be viewed as “powerful stupid“ and an unnecessary burning of our bridges with a friendly neighbor, in a thinly veiled attempt to curry favour abroad.”
The matter was sensitive and should be handled differently and Persad-Bissessar should not be so belligerently dismissive of any allegations made.
Dr Rowley said, “If the Prime Minister and her erstwhile advisers believe that this makes us look strong, we would have not only appeared stronger but would have been in a much better position if we had chosen to drink our bush tea at a cooler temperature, in preservation of our own interest.”
Rowley opened a door for rift
However, in a statement also on Thursday evening, Minister in the Ministry of Housing Phillip Alexander said Trinidad and Tobago was always going to be caught in a tug of war between Venezuela and the United States because of Dr Rowley.
“His flirtation with Maduro, conga line dancing in Caracas to rub it in the face of this country’s formerly most favored trading partner was always going to have a consequence,” Alexander said.
He also said former prime minister and energy minister Stuart Young frequent trips to Venezuela was “stupidity that cost us dearly financially and isolated us as the ghetto of global politics.”
Alexander defended Persad-Bissessar reminding of her stance as opposition leader.
Alexander said, “Thankfully Kamla Persad Bissessar as Opposition Leader was strong enough and brave enough to telegraph to the Americans that Rowley and his bacchanal bunch did not speak for the rest of us.”
He said the victory of US President Donald Trump and Persad-Bissessar’s own victory was a turn around for the relationship.
Alexander said, “The foolish announcement of attacks originating from Trinidad by Colombians, a nation that shares over two thousand kilometers of land border with Venezuela is absurdity on full display.”
He asked, “Why Trinidad over sea when they could have darted into and out of Brazil or Guyana over land if their own borders proved too difficult?”
Alexander also said it was no secret that the US want regime change in Venezuela and were looking for any excuse to make it happen.
He said, “Trinidad’s Prime Minister has made it clear whose side we are on and to whom we will turn if in distress. Maduro would have to be a fool of the highest order to put God out his thoughts and follow through with threats to go after the gangs ‘wherever they are’, hinting at possibly following them onto Trinidad soil.”
Alexander said Dr Rowley needed to be quiet.
“Keith Rowley needs to accept his licks like a man and shut up. The nation is tired of his madman rants. His lecture to this nation’s Prime Minister are the words of a weak man who willingly sold our sovereignty to anyone who came calling.”
